Young triathlete heading in right direction

Gus Marfell is preparing to take his burgeoning multisport career to another level.

The 20-year-old Marlborough triathlete, who has been steadily working his way up the national and international ranks over the past few seasons, has some immediate goals which he hopes will soon propel him onto the world stage.

He hopes to take a big step onto that stage at the 2025 World Triathlon Championships, to be staged in Wollongong, Australia during October next year.

Gus says that just three New Zealand under-23 athletes will be chosen for the worlds and he hopes to be one of them.

With the Kiwi team to be named in September, he will have several chances to meet the criteria and push his case for inclusion.

His immediate focus will be the Oceania championships, to be raced from mid-March to early May. The champs comprise triathlons of differing distances – super sprint, sprint and standard.

Selection will be based on performance and rankings. At the moment Gus is ranked 243rd elite worldwide, 25^th elite in Oceania and expects to be in the top five at New Zealand under-23 level, putting him on the cusp of selection.

“If I can squeeze into the top 10 at either the sprint or standard Oceania champs that would be a real boost,” he added.

His most recent racing has been in Asia in September, contesting events in Taiwan, Wuhan and Tokyo over a three-week period.

Although racing as an individual, Gus competed in New Zealand colours and described the Asian swing as “a learning experience”.

“That was my first campaign away,” he said.

“Learning how to race week-after-week while recovering in-between … also just being in a different environment.”

Part of that foreign environment was the sweltering temperature.

“It was 38 degrees while we were racing in Taiwan and very humid. The biggest thing was the water temperature, which was 34 degrees, which felt almost like boiling point.

“In the 1500m swim you get out halfway through, run for 20 seconds and dive back in for the second 750m … it is the change of muscles being used that really gets you flustered, your whole body just goes numb … so there was certainly a lot to learn.”

After having what he described as, “not my best race”, in the Taiwan heat, Gus improved in China before recording his best effort in Tokyo, a superb run leg allowing him to finish 13^th in the elite division among a field of 70.

After returning to New Zealand and work at a local bike shop, Gus has continued training hard, especially on his swimming which he admits is his weakest discipline.

His efforts suffered a setback a fortnight ago when he tripped on a run and broke his elbow, but the young athlete is undeterred as he chases his long-term dream, a fulltime multisport career.

A further step in that direction comes later this week when he travels to Cambridge to attend a three-day High Performance Forum, alongside such luminaries as Hayden Wilde, his trip financed by Triathlon NZ.

Focus in Cambridge will be on athletes likely to feature in the 2028 Olympic cycle and, although Gus feels “that time frame may be a bit early for me, I would be exceeding my expectations, but being part of the 2032 cycle is my biggest goal”.

“I think I am on track … you just have to be patient and keep turning up every day.

“Obviously injuries set you back a bit, but I think that just boosts your motivation and determination to come back even stronger,” Gus added.