Morgan determined to turn training progression into Friday lunchtime result at WTCS Weihai

🏃‍➡️ Has Saxon Morgan finally cracked the code in his search for a 10km split that does his talent justice?

The 25-year-old will find out soon enough with Friday afternoon’s WTCS Weihai his third start at World Triathlon’s highest level this season. The form leading into the Olympic distance test is encouraging, a silver medal at Asia Cup Gamagori last weekend a nice wee confidence boost.

Morgan ran a 14:58 5km at the Japan sprint. Friday is double the distance and an almighty step up in class but he’s happy to be trending in the right direction after a long, slow fightback from a pelvic bone injury.

WATCH WTCS WEIHAI: Triathlonlive.tv, 12:45pm Friday (NZ Time)

Typically, Morgan has been placed well enough out of the water and off the bike in racing this year, only to understandably fade on the run. But a lot of hard work with coach Mark Elliott appears to be paying dividends.

With none of the top three in the WTCS standings – Matt Hauser, Miguel Hidalgo or Vasco Vilaça – racing Weihai and Hayden Wilde and Alex Yee still elsewhere occupied, this shapes as an excellent opportunity to eclipse his previous WTCS best of 25th in Hamburg four years ago.

He went within a whisker of matching that result at WTCS Alghero in late May – missing by a single place in fact – but ran a 33:20 in Sardinia when something closer to 32 minutes was the goal.

“Mark [Elliott] and I have been putting a fair amount of race-specific work into action over the last two months in New Zealand, especially with targeted runs off the bike,” Morgan told SBR-Tri.com

“It’s an area I’ve been working hard to improve. It seems to be translating really well now with the 14:58 5km… that’s a big step forward from some of my run times earlier this year.”

All that despite a less-than-ideal buildup to Gamagori.

“I came into Gamagori after a solid training block back home following Europe but unfortunately, I picked up a small hip injury, so I didn’t run for 10 days leading into the race apart from a short jog the day before. Thankfully, it felt fine during the race and my body has pulled up well the morning after.”

It will be fascinating to see what Morgan can produce off the bike in China.

“Coming off the bike [in Gamagori], I had great run legs and settled into pace early. There were a few attacks in the first half of the run that I knew wouldn’t stick, so I held my rhythm and then pushed with about 800m–1km to go. Really happy to cross the line in 2nd behind [Takumi] Hojo, with Henry [Kiwi team-mate Henry McMecking] hot on my heels in 3rd.”

Henry Graf, the German star in making who will wear the No.1 bib. Morgan is seeded 19.

“Weihai is my second to last event before finishing the year at Wollongong World Championships. I’m excited to close out the season with a couple more strong performances and to carry the gains from the big training block back in NZ into race day results.”

Scotswoman Beth Potter, fresh from victory in WTCS Karlovy Vary, is top seed in a women’s race likely to feature countrywoman Lisa Tertsch, the American Taylor Spivey and a number of lesser lights looking to take advantage of the absence of Cassandre Beaugrand, Jeanne Lehair and Leonie Periault.