Day, who dominated the opening round of the series on Friday, did so again in Saturday’s super sprint at Kingscliff.“There’s a target on my back now,’’ Day acknowledged after winning all of Saturday’s three races.day admitted he had been bervous befroe the racing and worried his rivals would come back hard at him.“It’s a relief to have done so well today,’’ he said.

Jy Timperley finished in Day’s wake with Joe Collins third and Newport’s Jackson Borg fourth.This result has moved Borg into fourth place overall with Newport teammate Zac Morris sixth, Newcastle’s Dan Collins ninth and Finn Askew, from South West Rocks, training with Day in Queensland, 10th overall after two rounds.
GEORGIA HAS SUCCESS ON HER MIND IN IRONWOMAN SERIES
She might have won her second leg of the professional ironwoman series in 24 hours but two rivals from Sydney are determined it won’t be all one-way traffic for Lana Rogers this season.Georgia Miller, born and bred on the northern beaches but now based on the Gold Coast, and Newport’s Lizze Welborn are second and third place overall behind Rogers after two rounds of the 2021 series.

“She looks good doesn’t she,’’ Miller said of defending series champion Rogers after finishing second to the top swimmer in round two at Kingscliff on Saturday.“We’ve got our work cut out.’’Miller was at a loss to explain her poor start to the series on Friday – an eighth in the race won by Rogers from Newport’s Welborn and Sunshine Coast debutant Emma Woods.“It’s hard to pinpoint. As a professional athlete sometimes you have good days and sometimes you have bad days. You just have to roll with it and start fresh.’’Rogers won round two from Miller and Danielle McKenzie with Welborn fourth.Central Coast gun Jemma Smith, now training with Welborn at Newport, was eighth over the line.

‘I AM GUTTED’ – WHY KENDRICK LOUIS ISN’T RACE
Defending champion Kendrick Louis has conceded he has little to no hope of defending his Nutri-Grain ironman series crown due to injury, tipping this year’s series to be a dogfight between two old rivals.A grade two calf tear has put Louis out of the opening three rounds from Friday to Sunday at Kingscliff and fears he will also be grounded for the final three later this month.“I am gutted, so disappointed,’’ said the 30-year-old Manly surf life saver.

While Louis still has slim hopes he may be able to race the final rounds from February 26, he knows racing too soon could extend his recover out to six month, ending his entire season.“It could go from an intermediate tear to a solid tear very quickly so for me, I hate putting my foot on the line unless I’m 100 per cent ready,’’ said Louis, who injured himself at a local carnival at Manly in January.“It happened during the race I would have crawled my way over.“To be honest I don’t want this to turn into a six month recovery rather than a two month one.’’Louis, who has competed in every professional ironman series in the past decade, said he believes the men’s title race will be a two-man stoush between former champions Ali Day and Matt Poole.

Six-time Coolangatta Gold winner Day, who grew up on the NSW south coast, and Poole, who also hails from Sydney’s northern beaches, are both now based in Queensland for their surf careers.“It has to be an each way bet,’’ Louis said.“If I had to pick I’d say Ali and Pooley“They both know how to win. “Ali is coming back from an injury and wants it badly.“Pooley, you never know when it will be his last.“It will come down to who recovers best between the racing.’’

The first of three-days of back-to-back racing will see ironmen and ironwoman both race a 40-minute iron race over an M-shape course. The swim, board and ski legs will be done twice.
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