With three starting spots for the London Olympics all but locked up, Kiwi triathlete Kris Gemmell believes the New Zealanders will be a force at the Games in August.
Ryan Sissons, Bevan Docherty and Gemmell all finished inside the top 10 in the latest ITU event in San Diego today, which provided valuable ranking points to the New Zealanders to stay inside the top-eight countries.
Great Britain's Jonathan Brownlee won the event in 1hour 48min 47sec, while Sissons was 35 seconds back in sixth, as Docherty claimed eighth and Gemmell was 10th.
Brownlee and older brother Alistair, who is recovering from an Achilles injury, shape as two of the men to beat in London but Gemmell said the pair weren't untouchable.
"Everyone's talking about the Brownlees are x, y and z ahead of everyone else and so forth. Don't get me wrong, I still understand and respect that [Jonathan] won the race today but it's not that minute gap that everyone's crying about, it's 10 or 15 seconds,'' Gemmell told APNZ from San Diego.
"I think we go in to the [Olympic] race with the second strongest team. Us and France are probably the second strongest team and I think that's going to bode well. This form of triathlon, it's not like it was in Athens and it's not even like it was in Beijing there's a little bit more structure to it with the ebbs and flows of the race and you need to rely on people to be by your side.
''I think as a collective unit we are all together for the race and I think we are a strong situation and we should be able to make it count.''
Gemmell will return to Boulder in Colorado this week where he bases himself and will take on a few sprint events in France and Germany in his build-up to London.
