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Aussie triathletes lock down Paris Olympic place

Melissa WoodsAAP
Natalie Van Coevorden and Matthew Hauser will be among Australia's four triathletes for Paris 2024. (Supplied Australian Olympic Committee/AAP PHOTOS)
Camera IconNatalie Van Coevorden and Matthew Hauser will be among Australia's four triathletes for Paris 2024. (Supplied Australian Olympic Committee/AAP PHOTOS) Credit: AAP

Australia's team to compete at the Paris Games has passed 200 with the addition of four triathletes led by dual-Olympian Matthew Hauser.

The 26-year-old will spearhead the charge, in which athletes will complete a swimming loop in the River Seine, along with Olympic newcomers Luke Willian, Natalie Van Coevorden and Sophie Linn.

They will each contest the individual event and combine for the mixed team relay, in which they will look to back up a silver-medal showing at the World Triathlon championship series in Hamburg in 2022.

The quartet brings team selection to 203 of the 460 athletes expected to don the green and gold in Paris next month.

Hauser is considered a genuine medal chance. He currently sits fourth in the world rankings after finishing second at the World Triathlon championship series in Yokohama last month.

Fellow Queenslander Willian is ranked 13th, placing an impressive third in the same race to earn an automatic nomination.

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The 27-year-old was considered unlucky to miss selection for the Tokyo Games, as was Van Coevorden who hails from Campbelltown southwest of Sydney.

"I'm absolutely stoked," Willian said.

"After missing out in 2021, this has been the goal for the past three years - to qualify for Paris.

"To be able to do that, and to officially be selected, just feels amazing."

The top-ranked Australian woman, Van Coevorden said she was overcome with emotion upon learning of her selection at the team's training base in Spain.

"When I got the good news I just burst into tears," the 31-year-old said.

"I said, 'Thank you so much, I'm really grateful for this opportunity and I'm going to grasp it with everything I've got for myself and the other three people on this team'."

Olympic triathletes will race past iconic Parisian landmarks including the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, with the men competing on July 30, the women a day later and the mixed relay on August 5.

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