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propertyHome/Local Sport/Local FootyJake Birtwhistle speaks out over 'devalued' triathlon world championshipsBy Rob ShawUpdated July 2 2021 - 3:19am, first published September 8 2020 -

1:48pmBy Rob ShawUpdated July 2 2021 - 3:19am, first published September 8 2020 - 1:48pmFacebookTwitterWhatsappEmailCopyLINE CALL: Jake Birtwhistle winning in Hamburg last year. Picture: ITU

media Tasmanian triathlon champion Jake Birtwhistle said it was "a kick in the guts" to be denied a shot at a world title at the weekend.

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Commonwealth Games medallist believes Australians were among those penalised as rivals flocked from across the planet to contest the hastily-arranged world championships.

To add to Birtwhistle's frustration, the race was held over his preferred sprint distance on the Hamburg course where he won last year.

"It was tough to watch," said the 25-year-old who was left to follow the race online from his Launceston home.

"Hamburg is my favourite event, I won there last year. Had we known there was even a possibility that it would be a world championships, it definitely would have been a consideration to go.

"I'm just frustrated about it. There was not anything I could do about it, but it was still a shame to be put in that position.

"It was a bit of a kick in the guts. especially the way they went about it."

Five months after being suspended due to the coronavirus, the World Triathlon Series announced a planned return in Hamburg.

Sharing Triathlon Australia's view that it was too risky to travel so far for one race, Birtwhistle and most compatriots opted to stay home.

However, when the International Triathlon Union announced the German race would also serve as a world title, it was too late for Oceania competitors to sign up.

Many took to social media to vent their frustration, including the Tasmanian who posted a picture of him winning last year's WTS race on Instagram.

"It's great to see racing is back, but it's a shame we can't all be there to fight for a title," he said.

Birtwhistle shared the view that the decision devalued the world championship.

It was tough to watch

- Jake BirtwhistleJake Birtwhistle relaxing at home in Launceston.World champs 'devalued' Jake Birtwhistle feels countries like Australia were punished for taking the responsible course of

action over the weekend's triathlon world championships.

As competitors from Oceania and many other nations opted not to travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a hastily-arranged event went ahead regardless in Germany.

"To see a full American team going there with the situation they have and they were able to travel there a lot easier than it would have been for me ... it does feel strange," Birtwhistle

said.

"Athletes from all over Europe and the US were travelling through airports. It does not matter how many precautions you take, it can still spread.

"The world championships of 2020 are always going to have an asterisk next to them because everyone knows what athletes from different countries have had to deal with."

The 25-year-old Tasmanian, who has been home since coronavirus hit in March, was particularly annoyed at how the championships were announced.

"We knew they were trying to do a race in Hamburg at the start of September and made the decision that it was not worth travelling there, spending a fortune on flights and having to

quarantine on the way back for just one race, so decided to stay in Australia," he said.

"Then they announced it would be the world championships as well but by then it was too short a period, especially for those from Australia and New Zealand, to go through the application

process, so we never had the opportunity to go once they made that call.

"No-one was expecting it to be a world championship. It was never an option discussed or brought to our attention and did not go down well even with the athletes that were there who said it

did not feel right. But it went ahead anyway.

"The ITU made the decision and said it was a requirement of the World Triathlon Series to name a world champion, but I would think there could have been a bit of discretion this year when

everything has been turned upside-down. There was no actual series so it's gone from needing eight races to become a world champion to having just one."

Birtwhistle said he was "99 per cent committed to staying home" when Triathlon Australia announced it would not be sending a team which confirmed his decision.

Watching the race online from his Launceston home, the former junior and mixed team relay world champion was delighted to see his training partner Vincent Luis retain his elite men's title.

"I was really hoping he would win. There is no question whether he is a worthy world champ because he already was in 2019.

"But the women's winner said she did not feel like a world champ with some countries unable to be there. So it was nice for someone watching from home to see an athlete recognise that."

Birtwhistle echoed the views of occasional training partner Non Stanford, a British triathlete who won the world title in 2013 and is the fiance of Australian Aaron Royle.

"Can it be a world championships when even some of the most prominent nations are unable to attend?" she wrote on Instagram.

"I feel like awarding the world title under the current circumstances devalues the achievements of those athletes that have earned it in the past. I even question whether it's a fair

position to put the eventual 2020 winners in; does anyone want to win a world title with an asterisk next to it? When you become world champion you want to be just that, the champion of the

world, not the champion of those who could travel during a pandemic."

Birtwhistle said France were worthy winners of the mixed team relay, but having three of the top five nations from last year (Australia, New Zealand and Canada) not represented made "a

noticeable difference".

"It was nice to have an event going but I don't know if it was the right call," he said.

"I'm kind of on the fence a bit. We don't know how long this is all going to go on for. I would like to see a safe way to resume a bit of normality to get back to doing what we were before

but feel it would definitely have been understandable to call this year off."

Jake Birtwhistle and his family enjoying the limelight at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.Olympics still on agenda Uncertainty is the biggest hurdle facing Jake Birtwhistle.

A first Tasmanian winter in seven years was a shock to the system for a triathlete so used to year-round summers and a meticulously-planned globe-trotting schedule.

"One of the big challenges for the year has been trying to come up with a plan," he said.

"You cannot just go out and train well without a structure and vision of where you want to get to.

"At the moment I'm still planning for an Olympic Games but even that has a big question mark over it.

"If there is just a one per cent chance of it going ahead, that's what I'm focusing on.

"I don't think it will go ahead like we have seen before, but I hope it will in some capacity.

"There are other sports around the world that are able to go on, so I would like to think there will be some way of managing it.

"There will probably be no opening ceremony and maybe everyone will fly in and out just around their event so it's certainly not the Olympics you dream about when you're a kid but it's the

Olympics nonetheless and something I'm still aiming for."

The postponement of the World Triathlon Series in March means Birtwhistle has not raced since the Noosa Triathlon last November.

With the same event having joined the sport's ever-lengthening list of cancellations and a calf tear and COVID return derailing plans for another Queensland trip, Birtwhistle is likely to go

without competition for an entire year.

"It's been the longest off-season ever," he said.

"Noosa would have been my only race of the year so right now I have no plans to race.

"I want to finish the season as normal, around November, so I can start training in 2021 with the same structure I've had before and has been successful for me."

Living with partner Millie Wyllie, Birtwhistle has been swimming at a pool in Legana and the sea at Greens Beach while running and cycling familiar routes around Launceston.

"It's the longest I've been home for a very long time and normally Millie is travelling to meet me somewhere so it's been nice to be at home together."

ShareFacebookTwitterWhatsappEmailCopyRob ShawSports editorHeralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.Heralding the impact

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