From Triathlon Ireland Ireland represented in first ITU World Championships Series – Aileen Morrison races in Tongyeong, Korea Saturday 2 May. This weekend sees the start of the ITU World Championships Series kicking off in Tongyeong, South Korea. This Series is the pinacle of World Triathlon Competition, and Ireland is represented in the first race of the Series by Aileen Morrison. Irish viewers can watch the race live, starting at 6am Saturday 2 May, on Setanta Sports, a live cast on www.triathlon.org. A highlight show will be screened by Setanta Sports onWednesday 6 May at 11 am, see https://www.setanta.com/ie/TV-Listings for details. The ITU also offer a premium video service, see www.triathlon.org for details.
Aileen had progressed from being identified by Triathlon Ireland’s development programme eighteen months ago to climbing up the European rankings, and is currently ranked 11th in Europe. Aileen will line up alongside the Worlds top triathletes on Saturday, including 2008 Olympic Gold medalist Emma Snowsill. Aileen, originally from Derry, is currently based near Belfast, and trains at the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland, supported by the Sport Northern Ireland, and the Irish Sports Council. Aileen achieved a sixth place in her first race of the year, a European Cup race in Portugal. In 2008 Aileen had a great first season, with a collection of top ten places in Euroean Cup racing, and making the podium forthe first time with a third place in the Split European Cup. This track record has qualified Aileen to race at the top tier of competition on Saturday.
The World Championships Series is the top level of World triathlon competiton, with places being limited and based on world rankings. In the two year lead-up to the 2012 London Olympic Games, participation in the Series will be a good estimate of potential Olympic qualification. To have gained selection for the first race in the Series is a great achievement at this early stage. The next races in the series are:
31 May, Madrid, Spain
21 June, Washington, USA
Triathlon Ireland wish Aileen, and assistant coach Mark Dempsey the best of luck in South Korea. We will follow up with a report after the race.