New Australian triathlon star Melissa Rollison will expand her racing experience this year as she further explores her vast potential in the sport.
Rollison wants to gauge her abilities over longer and shorter distances as she looks at racing the Hawaiian Ironman and possibly trying to make the triathlon team for the 2016 Olympics.
The 28-year-old from Brisbane has been a triathlon revelation over the past two years since a succession of injuries forced her to give away international track running.
She has focused on long-course triathlons, winning last year’s world 70.3 title (1.9km, 90km cycle and 21.1km run).
Rollison is the favourite for Saturday’s women’s race at the Australian Long Course Championships (2/80/20) at Falls Creek in alpine Victoria, her first race of the season.
She has been training at the ski resort to prepare for the March 3 Abu Dhabi triathlon, which she is using as a potential stepping stone to the Hawaiian Ironman.
Abu Dhabi features a 3km swim, a 200km cycle and 20km run – on the way to the brutal Ironman distances of 3.8/180/42.2.
At the other end of the racing spectrum, Rollison will also contest two big Olympic-distance events (1.5/40/10) in the United States this year to see if it might be feasible to target the 2016 Olympics.
Regardless of where her second sporting career takes her, triathlon is now home for Rollison.
“With running, ever since I was 11-12, I thought ‘I’m going to go to the Olympics and I’m not just going to go there, I’m going to medal’,” she said.
“Then I had injury after injury and I started questioning myself – ‘what am I doing? Am I ever going to get there?’.
“When I won the world champs … I thought ‘My God, finally, I’ve done it, I’ve made it’.”
But for all Rollison’s ability, she has a long way to go before being ready for Hawaii.
Remarkably, Rollison has never run more than a half marathon, even though she would train for 120km per week on average in pre-triathlon days.
She will go to Kona this October to watch the Hawaiian Ironman, but will wait at least a year to make her debut there.
“Abu Dhabi is dipping my toe in the water … if I go alright with that, we’ll think about it,” she said.
Rollison has a more immediate barrier to overcome on Saturday – completing her first cold weather triathlon.
The Queenslander admits to being unsure about the conditions at Falls Creek, where the temperature is only 12-15 degrees.
“I don’t function too well in the cold – I didn’t even think about that one when I decided to come here,” she said.
Madeleine Oldfield will be Rollison’s main rival, while the men’s race will feature leading Australians Luke Bell, Mitch Anderson and Joe Gambles.
