Photos: Simon Dawson Photography
By Kent Gray/Triathlon New Zealand
Tayler Reid needs no extra motivation ahead of Saturday’s World Triathlon Cup in Wollongong but got it anyway overnight with the global governing body’s weekly ranking recalculation.
The Gisborne 27-year-old has soared 12 places to 38th in World Triathlon’s Olympic Qualification Rankings on the back of his runner-up finish to Aussie No.1 Matt Hauser in Sunday’s Oceania Standard Distance Championships in Taupo.
It’s a significant moment with Reid determined to get his ranking inside the top-30 to give New Zealand a chance of having three men among the 55-starters in the individual men’s race at the Paris Olympics on July 30. Hayden Wilde, already up in Europe, and Dylan McCullough, who withdrew from Taupo so as not to risk aggravating a minor ankle sprain, remained 2nd and 25th respectively in the latest re-rank.
Reid is up to 2854.75 points. It is likely he will need in excess of 3100 points to sneak inside the 30 which is why he’s squeezing Wollongong, World Triathlon Cup Chengdu (April 29) and WTCS starts in Yokohama (May 11) and Cagliari (May 25) in the remaining qualification window which closes May 27.
Morocco’s Jawad Abdelmoula currently sits in 30th on 3139.53 points.
The challenge for Reid, who finished 18th at the delayed Tokyo 2021 Olympics and 8th at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, is that the remaining races have unusually stacked fields as triathletes around the world scramble to achieve their own Olympic dreams.
Taupo has been reinvigorating though after Reid’s challenging start to 2024. As top Kiwi finisher, he was also crowned the NZ Standard Distance champion for 2024.
“Definitely a lot of opportunities to race [coming up] and hopefully everything goes smoothly. I’ve still got to get a visa to go to China so I’m going to have a busy few days before leaving NZ for a long time,” Reid told Triathlon.kiwi in Taupo.
“I feel like I’m in a good place, this was a good start. Yeah, feeling strong on the run, feeling strong all round, really felt I could push on the bike again which I didn’t feel like I could so a race ago so that’s a really good change in just three weeks of training.”
Reid admitted having Hauser push him was a bonus in Taupo.
“Great to have Matty over and the Aussie boys, cause, you know, the dude’s world class and so if I measure myself off of him you can see where you are against the rest of the world,” Reid said.
Ainsley Thorpe has risen four places to 34th in the women’s rankings after claiming the bronze medal in Taupo behind Aussies Ellie Hoitink and Richelle Hill.
Nicole van der Kaay, training in Portugal ahead of World Cup Chengdu, is 47th while Brea Roderick has jumped seven places to 78th, Eva Goodisson nine spots to 82nd and Olivia Thornbury 17 slots to 102nd on the back of their 6th, 9th and 4th places respectively at Sunday’s Oceania championship.
Olympic Qualification Rankings as of April 16, 2024
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