14 | AustrAliAn triAthlete
In the past four years, we have
witnessed Jake’s rapid evolution.
From winning the Australian Junior and
Under 23, the Junior Series title, the
Mooloolaba Oceania Cup and the World
Junior Duathlon Championships, to finally
making the grade and having a short stint
on the World Cup scene before stepping
into the big time of the WTS [World
Triathlon Series] and scoring his first
podium in Hamburg in 2016.
Jake made his debut in the World
Triathlon Series just as the world of
Olympic distance triathlon embarked on its
frantic journey towards Rio 2016. But his
bid for a seat on the Olympic Team’s jet for
Rio came unglued when he failed to perform
at the two automatic qualification races.
“What I did wrong was leave selection
up to chance and have someone else
determine my fate. My focus now is to race
well when it counts, so that team
selection is sorted early.”
“Missing Rio was pretty heartbreaking
because I came so close. But I think
realistically, and the results over the past
12 months since that team was
announced have shown, that it was a year
too early for me. I am only getting to that
level now where I am one of the best in
the world.”
Coming out of a stunning offseason,
the whole triathlon world was inspired by
Birtwhistle’s insane early 2017 season
form, racing with confidence and maturity
beyond his years to dominate the world’s
best over the short course at the Super
League Hamilton Island event.
“It was nice to be right up there in the
mix, pushing the pace, digging deep and
making things happen. It is kind of weird to
look back and see how fast my progress
has been.”
“I don’t really think about it too much,
but I guess things have come a long way in
a couple of years. This season I will be
going out there expecting nothing less of
myself than to be on the podium. I need tohave ‘in the race’ mentally and tick all the
boxes. That will put me in the position I
need to be in,” he said.
Season 2017 not only kick starts the
new Olympiad, but it is also the gateway
to the Commonwealth Games in 2018. In
April, Jake arrived on the Gold Coast for his
first World Triathlon Series of the year with
his focus on performing in front of his
home crowd and securing the first spot on
the Commonwealth Games Team for 2018.
While his fifth place locked in the
Commonwealth Games spot, the way the
race panned out and his performance,
where he faded in the final 5km, left
him disappointed.
“It is hard to say, about the Gold Coast
race. With what I was doing I think I had an
okay race, but I wasn’t overly happy with it.
It was bittersweet to get the Commonwealth
Games qualification, tick that box, and be
happy and super excited about going
forward with that. But a fifth place on the
Gold Coast wasn’t exactly what I was after.”
“I would have liked a better second half
of the run, but it was the finish line that
kept driving me. I just wanted to get there.
I started suffering big time in the last two
kilometres, and it felt like the longest five
kilometres I have done for a long time.”
“I really didn’t know if the other Aussies
were coming, so I was pushing to just hold
them off. It is great to get the Comm
Games spot locked in immediately. I am
happy to nail it the first opportunity and in
my first WTS race of the year.”
There was some conjecture that Jake
left his good form on Hamilton Island, with
only a short break arriving on the Gold
Coast tired and not in the shape he needed
to race against more seasoned athletes.
“Obviously everyone is different, but it
is hard to use that as an excuse. Hamilton
Island definitely did take a lot out of us
and probably more than what I expected.
So there wasn’t a lot of quality work done
between the two events that were three
weeks apart.”
“I think it is possible that the older guys
handled the workload of Hamilton Island
better, but then it could have gone the
other way because they say younger
people bounce back quickly.”
“Looking at it, if Hamilton Island had
been just one day of racing, I think it would
have been more beneficial for a young
person doing that super quick kind of
racing, to bounce back and be right back
into their program pretty soon afterwards.
By the time day three came along you had
to dig pretty deep to race and do well
there,” he said.
What was not obvious at the time was
Jake’s discontent with his training
environment, and his desire to move on© ITU/Janos M. Schmidt