LONDON CALLING?: Tristan Harrison.
TRISTAN Harrison is well and truly on his way to qualifying for the 2013 World Triathlon Championships in London.
Now he just has to decide whether or not he will go.
The Orange athlete took out the first leg of the 20-24 years world championship qualification at Kurnell in Sydney on the weekend.
Harrison prevailed over the 750m swim-20km cycle-5km run sprint course.
The win earned the 20-year-old 25 valuable points in the race to September’s world titles.
But, despite his positive start, Harrison is still undecided about whether he will make the trip if selected.
“It comes down to time and expense really,” the CSU Bathurst student said.
“It’s a hectic time of year. There’s exams, work, my sister is doing the HSC, so there’s a lot to consider.”
At this point the decision is a hypothetical one, but that might not be the case after this weekend.
Harrison will travel to Canberra for the National Sprint Championships.
The event doubles as the second round of qualification for the world championships, with double points on offer.
Should Harrison again prove victorious, his 75 points would almost certainly guarantee him a seat on a UK-bound plane.
And if his Kurnell form holds up, there’s every chance of that happening.
His time, which was more than a minute quicker than his nearest age-group rival, also placed him ninth overall out of a field of 600 of NSW’s best.
Even more encouragingly, it was six minutes faster than the time he recorded over the same course last year.
Harrison credited coach Dan Benton with the stark improvement.
“I’ve just been working alot harder on the sprints this year, he said.
“Dan has given up a lot of his time to train me, put alot of effort into me, and that’s paying dividends.”
Harrison’s younger sister Stephanie is also hoping to qualify for the world titles in the 16-19 years division.
She finished 14th at the Kurnell event.