Australia and South Africa sweep at OTU and ATU Champs

The African and Oceania Championships were crowned over the weekend, with Australia sweeping both the men’s and women’s podiums for Oceania and South African staking claims over the men’s and women’s podiums as the host nation in Buffalo City.

2016 Buffalo City ATU Triathlon African Championships
For the fourth consecutive year in a row, South Africa’s Henri Schoeman was crowned ATU African Champion after winning in Buffalo City on Sunday. Finishing with a healthy lead over three minutes, he dominated the race from finishing first out of the water and never losing his lead, which was able to secure his fourth title since 2013. The silver medal then went to South African compatriot Wian Sullwald and the bronze to Basson Engelbrecht.

In the women’s race, Mari Rabie (RSA) was able to claim her first African Championship title since 2008. Outperforming the field, she led from the water and never slowed down. She finished with a two-minute gap between compatriots Gillian Sanders and Cindy Schwulst, who took home the silver and bronze respectfully.

The two wins granted the host nation of South Africa a sweep the Championships after all six podium spots were overtaken in both the men’s and women’s events.

In the U23’s events, Sullwald was able to also grab ahold of the title with his race performance. While in the women’s field it was Alexander Quenet who left as a champion.

For the complete results click here

2016 Gisborne OTU Triathlon Oceania Championships
Rising star Marcel Walkington collected two titles for the price of one on Saturday after winning the 2016 Gisborne OTU Triathlon Oceania Championships held in New Zealand. His victory granted him the title of both the U23 and elite men’s champion after speeding past Olympic guarantee compatriot Aaron Royle and the reigning U23 World Champion Jacob Birtwhistle.

While Emma Moffatt claimed the gold medal for the women’s race. She earned her second straight competition podium after beating out fellow Aussies Emma Jeffcoat and Jaz Hedgeland.

Team Australia dominated the weekend by clean sweeping all six podium spots with the combination of both the elite men and women.

Also with the Australian wins, the Aussies were able to acquire their wildcard Olympic quota spots for Rio this summer, which means that Team Australia will be represented by the maximum of three men and three women on the Olympic start lists.

Royle is the only athlete to have confirmed his spot on Team Australia for Rio this summer. With his sixth-place finish at the Rio de Janeiro Qualification Event held last summer, he was able to secure his place on the men’s roster.

The next automatic nomination round will take place on April 9 in the second round of the World Triathlon Series held in Gold Coast, Australia. One man and one woman have the opportunity to join Team Australia if they are the first member of the federation to finish in the top ten in Gold Coast. If that scenario occurs during that weekend that would leave one spot on the men’s team and two spots on the women’s team still open to be filled for discretionary selection.

For the complete results click here