🍺 If Eva Goodisson goes on to achieve her dream of representing Team NZL at the LA28 Olympic Games, she may well owe a bunch of Aussie blokes a quiet cold brew or three.
The Kiwi heads into Saturday’s World Triathlon Championship Series Alghero in career-best shape after months training inside coach Dan Atkins’ high-performance squad alongside reigning WTCS men’s champion Matthew Hauser and a gaggle of Australia’s emerging talent.
And if keeping up with them in training sounds hard work, that’s because it is.
“It’s been great to just have a squad and in person feedback,” Goodisson told SBR-Tri.com.
“It takes away the extra thinking that I often do and streamlines the process. It’s also nice to build connection with the guys.
“And it’s been great to challenge myself against the boys too…especially trying to keep up on the bike.”
The squad — Hauser, Brayden Mercer, Brandon Copeland, Jack Caldwell and Bo Bamford — has become an important piece of the puzzle for the Gold Coast-based Kiwi as she builds toward the opening phase of Olympic relay qualification.
Recently named in New Zealand’s six-strong squad for WTCS Quiberon and WTCS Hamburg — the latter doubling as the 2026 World Triathlon Sprint and Mixed Relay Championships — Goodisson arrives in Sardinia with momentum quietly building.
This weekend will be just the sixth WTCS start of her career, but there are signs the 27-year-old is beginning to settle at the level.
She finished 23rd in Alghero last year — a position she matched at the WTCS Finals in Wollongong last October — and opened 2026 with a string of strong Oceania performances, including bronze at the Oceania SuperSprint Championships at Runaway Bay in April.
Now she returns to one of her favourite stops on the circuit for what shapes as one of the deepest women’s fields assembled this season.
Olympic medallist Beth Potter headlines the 44-athlete start list ahead of Jeanne Lehair and American Taylor Spivey, who arrives off a breakthrough result at T100 Spain.
Reigning WTCS world champion Lisa Tertsch is there. So too is Georgia Taylor-Brown fresh off her T100 victory in Pamplona, while Emma Lombardi, Leonie Periault, Jessica Fullagar and Taylor Knibb add even more firepower.
Goodisson wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Yeah I’m excited to be back racing on the World Series circuit and to be back here in beautiful Sardinia,” she said.
“I loved racing here last year, the place, the course and the people are amazing.
“Training has gone really well with Dan and the boys back on the Gold Coast. After watching them perform in Yokohama I’m itching to get out there myself.”
Alghero’s standard-distance course should suit aggressive racers. Goodisson certainly won’t mind the beach start leading into a technical, rolling bike and run where positioning and courage matter.
“The course here in Alghero has a lot of exciting elements like a beach start, technical slightly hilly bike and run, so hopefully there can be a mix up and separation in the field,” Goodisson said.
“As the first race of the Olympic qualification block it’s a stacked field so with that in mind, I’d be happy to execute a solid overall swim-bike-run knowing that I’m in good form.
“It’s a busy year of World Series racing now for me and with Quiberon and Hamburg coming up, I want to position myself strongly in the mix of World Series females.”
Goodisson is joined in Sardinia by Hayden Wilde and Saxon Morgan in the men’s race. The women race first at 8:45pm NZT on Triathlonlive.tv, ahead of the men at 11:45pm.
