Injury Forces World Champion Non Stanford To Sit Out Start of the ITU World Triathlon Season

World triathlon champion Non Stanford will sit out the start of the ITU World Triathlon Series which she won last year. Stanford injured her foot in a 10 km race on Sunday and is expected to be out of action for the next two months. The 25-year-old Welsh athlete is confident the injury will not sidetrack her goals for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July.

“If anything I’ll mean I’ll have to train specifically for the Commonwealth Games instead of focussing on the World Series,” she said.

“Being realistic that’s what I’m going to have to do – the Commonwealths was always the priority for the year.

“Now it will just mean the world series really will fall into the background and we’ll target doing well at the Commonwealths in July.

“I’ll be on crutches and in a boot for three weeks and then probably looking at four to six weeks rehab after.”

The ITU series starts in Auckland on April 5th. Stanford was due to begin the season defending her title in New Zealand alongside fellow Welsh star Helen Jenkins, the 2008 and 2011 world champion. Jenkins too has been sidelined with back and knee injuries and missed the 2013 season after finishing fifth in the Olympics at London 2012.

Jenkins and Stanford are expected to be named to the Welsh team for the Commonwealth Games  this summer where they could be joined world champion Leanda Cave who announced a desire to drop down in distance from the Ironman to Olympic distance to complete the Welsh trio of outstanding talent in Glasgow. Cave will compete in three triathlons over the next few weeks to prove her prowess over the short distance. She will race first in the La Paz Continental Cup in Mexico on March 22, followed by the Valparaiso Continental Cup in Chile eight days later and then the South Beach Triathlon in Miami on April 6th.