A top-20 showing in the Yicheng ITU Triathlon Asian Cup tomorrow should see Tania Mak So-ning safely through to a place in the Olympic Games.
The 22-year-old student has a 250-point lead in the New Flag category for Asian athletes, and even if her two nearest rivals win their races in Japan and South Korea this weekend they will fail to score enough points to overhaul Mak (pictured).
A number of top international athletes have signed up for the Korean event, which offers US$50,000 in prize money. The cash for the race in Japan has not yet been announced, but is thought to be significantly more than the US$15,000 on offer in Yicheng, which is near Wuhan.
One thing that could derail Mak's hopes of an Olympic berth would be her ITU ranking falling below the 140 benchmark that all Olympic competitors must meet. Mak's ranking is 103.
Kazakhstan's Yekaterina Shatnaya and Kimberly Yap of Malaysia are the only two women that can now deny Mak her Olympic place.
'If either of the two challengers score a lot of points this weekend and then do well again in the world championships in Vancouver next month it is statistically possible for Tania to be pushed out of the top 140,' said national coach Ruth Hunt. 'However, if Tania races well in China and picks up more ITU ranking points, I doubt either of the two girls will affect her position.' Mak has mixed emotions about Yicheng, coming so soon after the Sichuan earthquake.
