Triathlon NZ needs to catch up with other countries

Triathlon New Zealand has conceded it's failed to keep pace with the rest of the world.

After falling short of a podium at the London Olympics, the Kiwis also failed to place at the World Championship Grand Final in Auckland

Triathlon NZ CEO Craig Waugh says they've got some serious catching up to do.

"The speed in which the sport has moved in the last four years and predominantly driven by the Brownlees and Javier, is that we've fallen behind, so we've just recently done a review looking through to 2020 and structuring our high performance programme.

"If you look at the number of countries that competed at the Athens Olympics and even Sydney versus the number of countries that compete in the sport now, like the Russians are big into it now and their population is a lot larger than ours.

"So other countries have got a lot more money and a lot more people to choose from."

Waugh says they have to bridge the gap between development athletes and making the step up to the elite level.

Tri NZ is hoping the annual ITU World Series event in Auckland will aid the sports development in New Zealand.

With the exception of Andrea Hewitt, Kiwi athletes have struggled to make the podium during the 2012 season.

Waugh says the younger athletes will now get a chance to compete against the best in a familiar environment.

"Having an event like this here in Auckland is gonna provide our guys a good platform to compete on the world stage at home."

Photo: Photosport