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Britain’s juniors secure another bronze at Australian Youth Olympics

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Britain’s mixed triathlon relay team won bronze at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney earlier today. Just one day after winning two bronze medals in the individual events, Britain’s quartet won another bronze to complete a successful two days of international triathlon racing.

The team of Marc Austin, Georgia Taylor Brown, Sophie Coldwell and Gordon Benson will have appreciated the slightly cooler weather than yesterday when temperatures hit over 40 degrees on the hottest day in Sydney since 1939.

Team GB started well, pushing the pace at the front of the race until Australia’s Holly Grice made a break during the bike section of the third leg.

Australia’s Green team finished in a time of 1:11:37, very closely followed by Australia Gold three seconds later. Team GB came in a minute later with a time of 1:12:41, comfortably ahead of Japan and New Zealand, and maintaining the strong reputation that the national team has in international mixed relay competition.

British Triathlon coach, Rick Velati, said: “The AYOF provided a great opportunity for our junior athletes to race in a multi-sport environment incorporating most aspects of Olympic competition.

“The festival ultimately provided a high level of racing in the peak of the Australian season, and it is with great credit our athletes were able to achieve a consistent level of performance, measuring themselves against some of their peers whilst in the early stages of winter training.

“We learned a lot about racing in the heat and also the powers of thorough recovery to get ready for the relay only 20hours later.”

Marc Austin, winner of individual and relay bronze, said: “I’m really happy with winning bronze. It was an amazing opportunity to be part of the Team GB experience. This has given me confidence in myself to see what I can do, and gives me a platform for the rest of the year and towards Glasgow 2014.”

Georgia Taylor Brown, who also won double bronze, added: “Training was the focus for me so the medals were a bonus. The races gave me confidence that my training is going in the right direction.”

Results
1. Green Australia, AUS, 1:11.37
2. Gold Australia, AUS, 1:11:40
3. Great Britain, GBR, 1:12:41

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