[1] Tony Dodds Wanaka triathlete Tony Dodds (24) has traded his customary summer of fun for some extra hard slog as he prepares to qualify for next year's Olympic Games in London. His first race in the buildup to the Olympic trial at the Sydney ITU triathlon in April is this Sunday's World Cup triathlon in Auckland.
• Men's race may carry $10,000 first prize
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Dodds is seeded 10th in a world-class field that includes world No 7 Laurent Vidal (France), Matt Chrabot (United States), former world champion Ivan Rana (Spain), and Olympic silver medallist Bevan Docherty, of New Zealand.
Clark Ellice, Kris Gemmell, Ryan Sissons and James Elvery will also be racing for New Zealand.
Next up is the Contact Cup short-course triathlon through the streets of Wanaka on January 20, before Dodds heads into an intensive two-month altitude training camp at the Snow Farm with the New Zealand squad and other athletes from the Netherlands, France, Japan and Germany.
Dodds usually spends his summers in Wanaka recovering from his northern hemisphere racing season but this summer has to be different because none of New Zealand Triathlon's elite males qualified for the Olympics at the London ITU world championships race in June.
There are three spots available for the Kiwi men and Dodds must perform at his best in Sydney to be selected.
Dodds said yesterday his summer programme would be good but "boring".
The pain will be shared with his training partner, long-distance triathlete Sean Donnelly (24), of Germany, with whom Dodds races professionally during the northern hemisphere summers.
Dodds is feeling refreshed and has recovered from a serious accident in Germany two weeks before the London world championships race.
He finished the London trial in 49th place and returned to Wanaka to regroup. He rebounded strongly, finishing in a career-best place of seventh at the Korea world cup race in October.
"When I came back, I had to reassess my goals. I had Korea and Auckland world cups coming up. I wanted top 10 in both, so I have ticked one box," he said.
Dodds is coached by Dunedin's Tim Brazier and follows the principles of triathlon guru Dr John Hellemans.
He began competing in 2005, has held the New Zealand under-23 title three times and won the New Zealand Sprint Championships in 2010 and this year.
Wanaka's Nicky Samuels (world No 29) will also be racing on Sunday against world No 2 Andrea Hewitt, of New Zealand.
The field also includes world No 16 Ai Ueda, of Japan, Vicky Holland, of Great Britain, and Erin Densham, of Australia.
Kate McIlroy (world No 17), of New Zealand, announced yesterday she had withdrawn because a cut to a toe sustained two weeks ago has not healed satisfactorily.
Hewitt is the only New Zealander to have qualified for the Olympics. Two women's spots remain up for grabs.
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