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Ellina Mhlanga, Zimpapers Sports Hub
FOR Andie Kuipers, the goal for the year 2025 is to keep her ranking points up and gain more experience on the international scene.
She also hopes to once again pursue one of her dreams, and that is to grace the Olympics.
The next edition of the Games is in 2028 in Los Angeles.
Kuipers missed the recently held Bonaqua Africa Triathlon Cup Troutbeck in Nyanga due to an injury.
However, she hopes to have fully recovered by the time of the Africa Triathlon Championships in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), in South Africa, next month.
The goal is to start the groundwork now towards putting herself in a position that presents her with better chances of making the cut when the qualifying period for the next edition opens.
“For my plans for 2025, I will be at the African Championships in Port Elizabeth on the 5th of April.
“I hope to gain maximum points towards my ranking before possibly going to Egypt for the Sprint African Championships.
“And then I plan to do some racing in Asia at the end of this year and possibly some long-course races.
“So, the goal for 2025 is just to keep my ranking points up, gain some more experience, and set myself up for the best possible start to 2026, where the Olympic qualification period starts,” said Kuipers.
She has been in Durban working with a group of triathletes as she also recovers and is heading to Australia for work and pursuing her passion, triathlon.
“I am heading to Australia to start working because I need to have a job outside of triathlon to be able to make it possible to race as well.
“I am heading to Australia to join a group of professional triathletes there, where I will be living with them and working.”
Kuipers remains one of the promising triathletes at the elite level.
She has represented the country at the African Games twice — in 2019 and last year at the postponed 2023 edition.
In 2019 she won a bronze medal.
In the same year, she qualified and competed at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Switzerland. She won gold in the elite women at the 2023 World Triathlon Development Regional Cup in Diani, Kenya.
She was one of the beneficiaries of the Olympic Solidarity Scholarships for the Paris 2024 Games.
While she missed qualification, being her first attempt towards the Olympics, Kuipers, speaking soon after the closure of the qualification window, said, “The experience has given me opportunities I would never have dreamed of.”
“Her priority is to start building her ranking for LA 28. “So, this year her priority races were Troutbeck, the Standard Africa Championships, which will be held in April in Gqeberha, South Africa, and the Sprint Africa Championships in Egypt.
“The Africa Championships are both high-ranking points races,” said Triathlon Zimbabwe vice president Pamela Fulton, who has previously worked with Kuipers.
And remains in touch with the athlete.
Online Reporter