James Corbett’s goal for 2025 was to finally turn the numbers he was seeing in training into results on the race course, to prove that his full-throttle style might be “unorthodox” but isn’t fool-hardy. Two races into the year, and the 23-year-old Aucklander has shown his “creative” brand of racing might just work.
Corbett sensationally surged and counter-surged to silver in the elite men’s battle at the Oceania Triathlon Championships on Saturday, simultaneously claiming gold in the U23 race within the race in Tasmania.
The Oceania one-two comes after his Asia Cup breakthrough in Tokyo last September and should see the world No.115 creep ever closer to a ranking in the double figures. His confidence? That’s somewhere on “cloud nine” after he slipped between Aussie’s Brandon Copeland and Lachlan Jones on the elite podium and edged World Cup Napier silver medallist Brayden Mercer to the continental U23 title.
Canterbury’s Henry McMecking made it six medals for Team NZL in Devonport with 3rd in the U23 race, a place ahead of Grayson Westgate who shone like never before in 4th; the pair were 7th and 8th overall respectively. Saxon Morgan’s 5th place in the elite field was also more than creditable as he fights back from a pelvic bone injury, especially as he had to borrow a bike after his race stead was destroyed in a pre-race training accident.
But this was Corbett’s moment in the sun, painful as it was initially. As he crossed the line, cramp consumed his body and it seemed the finishing tape, which he just nabbed before his knees buckled underneath him, was the only thing keeping him upright. A wheelchair was hastily hailed but he quickly recovered and was soon giving a doozy of an interview.
READ MORE: James Corbett – Triathlon, Dyslexia and Me
“Oh, I’m on cloud nine right now. I don’t even know what to feel. I mean, that was probably the most dramatic, like, finishing straight ever,” Corbett said before reflecting on a burst of speed to catch early run leaders Copeland and Jones.
“I caught up to Brandon and Lachie halfway through the [first lap] and, you know, I was like, oh, I’m gonna let this, like, dog out of me. I regretted it 20 seconds later. My legs just seized up and then I was just, like, playing defensive the rest of the run.
“I tried to just stay on that…and then I saw the Kiwi junior boys on the sideline down that finishing straight, and I clicked out of that race mode. And bang. A rush of cramp just hit my whole body. You know, if that was 100 metres longer, I think Lachie would have came back and got me so pretty grateful. Yeah, cloud nine. Cloud nine.”
Eclipsing his 16th place from Spain last year at October’s U23 World Championships in Wollongong had been Corbett’s chief goal for 2025. Till Saturday. Now the prospect of more World Cup and perhaps even WTCS starts is real. He knew his 14th at World Cup Napier three weeks ago didn’t reflect where he felt his form was at.
“Well, that’s a pretty big result [today]. So I’m gonna probably have a look back at the calendar. I feel, on cloud nine right now, so I feel like I could take on the world…
“I’ve got the best support group at the moment, and I’ve been loving life, and I think it’s showing, and I’ve been loving the sport, and, yeah, I can’t wait to see where it goes.”
Elite Men – Leading results
🥇 Brandon Copeland (AUS) – 1:48:39
🥈 James Corbett (NZL) – 1:49:07
🥉 Lachlan Jones (AUS) – 1:49:38
U23 Men
🥇 James Corbett (NZL) – 1:49:07
🥈 Brayden Mercer (AUS) – 1:49:44
🥉 Henry McMecking (NZL) – 1:51:30
Also NZL (*Denotes U23 position)
5. Saxon Morgan – 1:50:33
7. Henry McMecking – 1:51:30 (*3rd)
8. Grayson Westgate – 1:52:04 (*4th)
16. Gus Marfell – 1:53:55 (*9th)
21. Reeve Dooney – 1:56:04 (*12th)
23. Cameron Maunder – 1:58:03 (*13th)
26. William Taylor – 1:58:48 (*15th)
27. Dion Wallwork – 2:01:16 (*16th)
30. Jett Curteis – 2:04:22 (*18th)
DNF. Oliver Larcombe
DNF. Ivan Abele
Full Results: Elite & U23 Men
ELITE & U23 WOMEN – Van der Kaay and Roderick medal!
🥉+🥉 Kiwi class and the future to the fore as Hill enhances family legend
Two-time Taupo Olympian Nicole van der Kaay has used her legendary run speed to snare elite women’s bronze, a podium position matched by Brea Roderick in the U23 race staged simultaneously.
Van der Kaay quickly consigned her tough start to the year – 16th at World Cup Napier three weeks ago – to history, making up a deficit of 1min 19sec off the bike to join Aussie’s Richelle Hill and Lauren Kerwick on the elite podium. The 29-year-old came off the bike in a chase group of five including Napier winner Desirae Ridenour (CAN) and slowly but surely reeled in Emma Jeffcoat (AUS), Roderick, Tara Sosinski and Eva Goodisson to claim her first podium since winning this title in May 2023, the cap of a perfect five-from-five Oceania season two years ago.
Van der Kaay clocked 34:51 for the 10km, a split bettered only by Gold Coast-based Kerwick (33:51) who also stormed out of the chase pack for her career best result. Hill made what looked like a race winning break out of T2 but Kerwick closed to be shoulder-to-shoulder with 1.25km to go. But Hill, the daughter of Athens 2004 Olympian Rina Bradshaw-Hill, enhanced the family legend when she bolted 600m from home and Kerwick was unable to respond.
Roderick was second out of Bass Strait after Sosinski and mixed it up on the bike as she had in Napier before coming home in 38:59. After finishing 5th at World Cup Napier, Goodisson’s 36:47 run split in Devonport was enough to hold on for 4th overall, another huge step in the right direction as the Gold Coast-based Kiwi’s run form slowly returns following a frustrating back injury.
Flu-like symptons forced Kiwi No.1 Ainsley Thorpe to withdraw before the gun but lower down the 21-strong field, Amara Rae will be pleased with her run to 11th while Lulu Johnson was 5th in the U23s and 15th place overall. Jeffcoat (sore back), such a presence in the swim and bike legs, Ridenour and Olivia Cummings all recorded DNFs.
💬 NVDK happy with ‘stepping stones’ after tough Paris campaign – and start to 2025
Van der Kaay was pleased to get out of Bass Strait within 33 seconds of Sosinski. “I had a pretty shocking race three weeks ago [in Napier], all because my swim. Like, I was second to last out of the water. So to come in the front of the second group was huge improvement already. Again, just stepping stones,” said van der Kaay.
“I’ve really made huge progress. So happy with that. It was definitely going to be hard work because, you know, those strong swimmers are also strong bikers. I put a lot of cookies into the ride, I’m not gonna lie. And it was really disjointed turns, but it was great that the girls were really trying to pull turns and, you know, it was about eliminating as much time lost as possible.”
Van der Kaay was then asked to appraise her run. “Last year, I kind of lost all three [disciplines]. So to be feeling better in the swim bike and run, like, it was just nice to feel a little bit more myself again. And, you know, each race is just slowly getting better, so hopefully throughout the season I’ll find my feet.”
Elite Women – Leading Results
🥇 Richelle Hill (AUS) – 2:02:55
🥈 Lauren Kerwick (AUS) – 2:03:02
🥉 Nicole van der Kaay (NZL) – 2:04:07
U23 Women
🥇 Richelle Hill (AUS) – 2:02:55
🥈 Tara Sosinski (AUS) – 2:04:59
🥉 Brea Roderick (AUS) – 2:06:56
Also NZL (*Denotes U23 position)
4. Eva Goodisson 2:04:39
9. Brea Roderick 2:06:56 (*3rd)
11. Amara Rae 2:08:34
13. Sarah McClure 2:09:45
15. Lulu Johnson 2:14:17 (*5th)
DNF. Olivia Cummings (*DNF)
Full Results: Elite & U23 Women
JUNIOR MEN – Bronze for Finnley Oliver!
🦘🥊 🥝 T2 tangle costs Oliver shot at title
Finnley Oliver overcame a trans-Tasman tangle in T2 to claim New Zealand’s first medal of the 2025 Oceania Championships with bronze in the U19 men’s race.
The Triathlon Tauranga 18-year-old finished 39 seconds adrift of New South Wales winner Jack Caldwell, with Queenslander Zahn Spies taking the silver. Oliver has staked a strong claim for a third World Triathlon Junior Championships appearance at Wollongong in October but wasn’t overly happy with his day after entering the sprint (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) keen to avenge his runner-up finish to Jack Woodberry at last year’s Oceania Juniors in Napier. Woodberry overcame a tough swim to run to 4th, 11 seconds behind the Craig Kirkwood-coached Oliver.
Auckland’s Coen Anderson was an impressive 5th after featuring throughout the bike breakaway of initially seven and then six while 17-year-old Caleb Wagener ran an impressive 15:54 5km split (compared to Caldwell’s 15:15 and Oliver’s 15:43) to give New Zealand three in the top-10. There were also impressive results further down with Connor Kemp and Canterbury’s Thomas Newsom 13th and 17th respectively in the field of 44, while just two seconds separated the Whakatane twins Oliver and Xavier Christie.
💬 Oliver: ‘I didn’t come to lose but a medal is still good’
A brief coming together with Aussie Oscar Wootton in the bike-to-run transition cost Oliver critical seconds, the confusion causing him to overshoot his bike rack.
“It was a little mixed up in transition and I ended up running past my own rack and came a bit behind, but it’s not a bad result,” said Oliver who finished 17th at last October’s Junior worlds in Spain.
“I didn’t come to lose, but a medal is still good and, you know, I have to take these losses on the back [chin] and come back stronger next time. I have no excuses today. The boys that beat me were fantastic, so kudos to them.”
Oliver also paid tribute to Anderson who had run him close at the recent Tri NZ Junior Championships finale in Napier (file picture above).
“It feels great [to likely qualify for Wollongong]. I’ve represented New Zealand the last two years at worlds, so it’s so amazing for me to be able to do that. I’m so proud of Coen Anderson as well for making that team. He’s had a lot of problems these last few years, and for him to be there is awesome. He deserves it so much.”
Junior Men – Leading results
🥇 Jack Caldwell (AUS) – 57:19
🥈 Zahn Spiers (AUS) – 57:38
🥉 Finnley Oliver (NZL) – 57:58
Also NZL
5. Coen Anderson – 58:28
7. Caleb Wagener – 59:02
13. Connor Kemp – 1:00:14
17. Thomas Newsom – 1:00:55
18. Oliver Barnett – 1:01:23
21. Alec Ball – 1:01:35
26. Joshua Gordon-Glassford – 1:02:12
31. Oliver Christie – 1:02:54
32. Xavier Christie – 1:02:56
Full results: Junior Men
JUNIOR WOMEN – Anderson repeats as Cornwall finishes top Kiwi
🦘 Anderson goes back-to-back
If you possessed a crystal ball that looked as far ahead as the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games, a vision of Aspen Anderson would likely appear. The Gold Coaster (1:02:51) looks to be timing her run to Australia’s home Games nicely, comfortably making it back-to-back U19 Oceania titles.
The 18-year-old took advantage of a slick T2 to ease away from countrywoman Claire Spicknall and Ava Henville for gold in the Junior women’s sprint (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run), punching her ticket to October’s World Triathlon Junior Championships in Wollongong. Anderson is keen to avenge a DNF at last year’s equivalent in Spain when she gets to the ‘Gong while others are looking further ahead, rating her a top contender to race her home roads in seven years time; the Brisbane ’32 triathlons will be raced on the Gold Coast. She finished with a 17:03 split for the 5km, 1:45 quicker than the fastest of the three Kiwis…
🇳🇿 Cornwall wrestles uncooperative bike
Hayley Cornwall was New Zealand’s best in 5th but was left to rue a troublesome T2 in Tasmania where she twice had to wrestle a bike masquerading as a bucking bronco, the first just after the dismount line and then again as a wheel clipped a cobble as she rounded a corner to head to the bike racks.
It saw the Manawatu 18-year-old credited with a T2 of 55 seconds – the second slowest – and cost her nearly 10 seconds on Anderson after dismounting right behind the Aussie. Until then, the Craig Kirkwood-coached Cornwall, a bronze medallist in Napier 12 months ago, had looked thoroughly impressive, 7th out of the water and a perhaps the most comfortable of the breakaway group of eight (quickly reduced to seven) up the four imposing climbs of North Street Hill.
Hawke’s Bay brainiac Sophie Webber was 7th, a constant presence in the front pack throughout the race. The Woodford House Dux was one of four Kiwis selected from hundreds of applicants in NZ’s International Biology Olympiad Team, jetting to Kazakhstan to compete in “Olympics of secondary school biology”.
Coached by Chris Willett, she is now living in Brisbane and studying medicine at the University of Queensland. Charlotte Chiles wasn’t too far off the pace early but found North Street Hill a handful to finish 16th, just over 6 mins adrift of Anderson.
Junior Women – Leading Results
🥇 Aspen Anderson (AUS) 1:02:51
🥈 Claire Spicknall (AUS) 1:03:21
🥉 Ava Henville (AUS) 1:03:28
Also NZL
5. Hayley Cornwall 1:04:49
7. Sophie Webber 1:05:17
16. Charlotte Chiles 1:09:00
Full results: Junior Women
