Having conducted a 颅successful winter season in the U.S., Matt Sharpe will now conduct that other triathlon in 颅returning to Victoria 鈥� test, pack, 颅quarantine.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an interesting process, that鈥檚 for sure,鈥� said Sharpe.
The Olympic hopeful made the podium for the second consecutive week in Florida, placing second Sunday in the Sarasota Tri Festival. That follows last week鈥檚 third place in the Clermont Draft Legal Challenge race.
鈥淚t was a hot and humid and similar to the conditions we鈥檒l face in Tokyo,鈥� said Sharpe, of the weekend event in Sarasota.
鈥淚 suffered a bit but it was good practice for Tokyo.鈥�
鈥淲e had a strong group of athletes working well together out of the water and we pushed the bike to drop a couple of the stronger runners. I took out the run and tried to hang with a top American athlete but paid the price and had to settle for second.鈥�
After three months of training and racing in Arizona and Florida, Sharpe returns home this week to Victoria for a two-week quarantine period followed by an early-spring training block.
The International Triathlon Union is expected to soon release its spring and summer race schedule leading to the 2020 Plus One Tokyo Olympics in July. It will likely include events in Japan and Europe.
The qualification process has been greatly hindered by the pandemic. According to the Canadian Press, 28 of sa国际传媒鈥檚 35 summer national sport organizations have not yet filled out rosters for the Tokyo Olympics.
鈥淲e鈥檒l know better over the next few days what the qualifying period entails,鈥� said Sharpe, who was born and raised in Campbell River, and came to Victoria to train and graduated from Claremont Secondary.
If the qualification process ended today, Sharpe and Tyler Mislawchuk of Oak Bluff, Man., would get the two Canadian men鈥檚 berths into the Tokyo Olympics based on current rankings.
More than 75 Island or Island-based athletes are expected to compete in the Tokyo Olympics and 颅Para颅lympics.
