Auckland's Debbie Tanner will be New Zealand's main hope for a medal at this weekend's opening round of the triathlon World Cup series at Mooloolaba on Australia's Sunshine Coast.
New Zealand will be without leading men Kris Gemmell and Bevan Docherty and women Andrea Hewitt and Kate McIlroy as they prepare for the opening World Championships series race in Sydney on April 11 and Samantha Warriner is racing a half Ironman in the United States.
Joining world number 18 Tanner, who is looking to improve on her second placing behind Hewitt at the recent New Zealand and Oceania Championships in Wellington, are Wanaka's Nicky Samuels and under-23 competitors Teresa Adam (Auckland) and Rebecca Kingsford (Tirau).
Samuels will be racing for the first time since cutting her foot when finishing third at the nationals in Wellington.
In the men's race New Zealand will have Martin Barneveld, James Elvery, Callum Millward, Tony Dodds, Ryan Sissons, Ben Pattle, Dylan McNeice, Tom Davison, Michael Poole, Harrison Dean, Cameron Goldsmid and William Prior on the startline, many of whom will be in their first World Cup event.
More than 80 elite athletes from around the world will be competing at Mooloolaba including defending champions Canadian Kirsten Sweetland and Australia's Courtney Atkinson.
To snare a podium placing, Tanner will have to contend with a strong field that includes the likes of American Olympian Laura Bennett, Sweetland's teammate Kathy Tremblay, current world duathlon champion Vendula Frintova of the Czech Republic, British veteran Liz Blatchford and Germany's Ricarda Lisk.
