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The triathlon sporting event consists of three events: Triathlon Mne’s Individual, Triathlon Mixed Relay and Triathlon Women’s Individual.
What is the triathlon? It is an endurance event that combines swimming, road cycling and distance running without breaks. The athletes will start by swimming 1500m, followed by a 40km bike ride and a 10km run.
Triathletes Matthew Hauser, Luke Willian, Natalie Van Coevorden and Sophie Linn will represent Australia at Paris 2024. Learn more about them below.
WHO ARE THE AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC TRIATHLETES?
SOPHIE LINN
Age: 29 years old.
Hometown: Adelaide, South Australia.
Sophie has been competing in athletic events such as cross country, swimming and track and field since she was in school, winning multiple medals for her school at a national level and even being named the national cross country champion in 2007 when she was just 12 years old.
She has been competing in triathlon competitions in both the USA and Australia since 2018, finishing her first Word Triathlon Cup race in 2019. Sophie also won her first gold medal in 2019, winning the Triathlon Asian Cup in Japan. On top of this, she also won gold in 2022 at the Oceania Triathlon Cup and competed in her first senior Commonwealth Games in mid-2022, finishing with a silver medal in the mixed team relay as well as a fifth place finish in the individual women’s triathlon.
“Many times over the past few years I thought I had stretched myself too thin between work and triathlon,” Sophie wrote on Instagram when she announced that she had made the Australian Olympic Triathlete team.
“I didn’t know if I was half-assing both instead of just focusing on one. But slowly I built a team around me that allowed me to go after both my dreams. It wasn’t smooth or conventional, and there were many times that the road ahead seemed completely unobtainable, but somehow…someway we pulled it off.”
NATALIE VAN COEVORDEN
Age: 31
Hometown: Campbelltown, New South Wales
Natalie has been competing in both swimming and cross country since her high school days and even finished fourth at the Australian National Schools Triathlon in 2010, kickstarting her career.
She competed at her first international triathlon event in 2011 and has raced in many competitions across Oceania and Asia, coming home with several gold and silver medals. Natalie made her Commonwealth Games debut in 2022, finishing with a bronze medal in the triathlon mixed term relay and finished 14th in the women’s individual triathlon race. In the last two years, Natalie has competed worldwide in World Cups and Championships, ranking 54th on the WTS list as of June 2024 and standing as Oceania’s top triathlete.
She also shared her happy news on Instagram when she found out: “Six years ago I started believing that one day I could be standing on the start line at the world’s biggest stage,” she began.
“The past five years have been nothing short of challenging but I’m proud that I never gave up on myself. I never stopped fighting when times got tough. Thank you my family, friends and to everyone that always believed in me when sometimes I didn’t believe in myself. You allowed me to dream big and all your support has never gone unnoticed!”
LUKE WILLIAN
Age: 27
Hometown: Brisbane, Queensland
A fun fact about Luke is that he started competing in triathlons back in 2008, solely because his brother wanted to try it. Luke’s first World Cup was in 2015, where he finished in the top half of the field in 31st position. He later won the World Cup in 2017.
The Brisbane man made his debut at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018, finishing in eighth place. Though Luke missed out on selection for Tokyo 2020, he is heading to Paris 2024 and becoming the 14th Australian man to compete in the Olympic Games triathlon. Luke shared to Instagram how much this opportunity means to him. “Dare to dream 💭,” he wrote.
“From my first junior world champs in 2013, missing out in Tokyo, to my maiden WTCS podium in Yokohama. Booked my ticket to Paris. Days like this don’t come around often. Gonna enjoy this.”
MATTHEW HAUSER
Age: 26
Hometown: Hervey Bay, Queensland
Matthew is the only one on the team who has already competed in the triathlon at the Olympics. He saw his Olympic debut at the 2020 Games and finished 24th. Matthew stands as Australia’s premier triathlete on the global stage, currently titled as a top-10 world-ranked triathlete.
Matthew competed at his first Commonwealth Games in 2018 but unfortunately missed the podium by just two seconds in his individual event. However, he was a member of the Aussie mixed relay team that won the gold medal. He has also won various other competitions over the years.
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