NEWCASTLE triathlete Aaron Royle will be out to book a place at a second Olympic Games and get a close up look at the course for Tokyo at the ITU World Olympic qualification event at Obaiba Marine Park on Friday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Royle, who finished ninth at the Rio Olympics and is ranked 19th in the ITU series, will be joined by Jacob Birtwhistle, Luke Willian, Matthew Hauser, Ryan Fisher in the Australian team.
The qualifying race will give athletes their first chance to test the course ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games in August next year.
The bigger prize is automatic selection for the first Australian male and female to finish on the podium at the Olympic qualifier.
Among the big-name absentees this week will be WTS stars Vincent Luis (France) and Spaniards Mario Mola and Javier Gomez Noya.
But 2018 Commonwealth champion Henri Schoeman will be on the start-line alongside Belgians Jelle Geens and Marten Van Riel.
The test event wraps up on Sunday with the mixed relay, which has been added to the Olympic program for the first. Australia is currently ranked No.1 in the world.
Royle was part of team which finished fourth in the relay in a ITU event in Canada last month after receiving a 10-second penalty for tag outside the exchange zone on the final handover.
In the women's race, Emma Jackson will be out to end a frustrating run by booking a berth for Tokyo.
A series of serious injuries have hampered the Queenslander in recent years, although she showed she was back to her best with a maiden WTS victory last month in Edmonton.