Triathlon Canada hires Jamie Turner as National Team Coach

One of the top triathlon coaches in the world, Jamie Turner, has been recruited by Triathlon Canada to be Canada’s new national team triathlon coach.

Turner, spent two decades coaching Australia’s best triathletes, served as the Olympic coach for Chile in 2008, and has coached a number of World Championship winners. He officially took up his role on November 25th and will be based out of Victoria BC. He will spend much of his time on the road working with athletes and coaches around Canada and abroad as the program moves to various venues to prepare and compete against the rest of the world on the WTS circuit.

“We have a winner at all levels in Jamie Turner, and I am thrilled he is with us in Canada,” said Libby Burrell, high-performance director, Triathlon Canada, who has been focused on rebuilding the high-performance program since joining the federation one year ago. “Jamie has a very keen understanding of shaping a successful daily performance environment and is relentless in the pursuit of excellence which is key to winning medals in our sport. I believe this to be one of the most significant appointments in the history of our organization. We are honoured to have Jamie on our team.”

According to Triathlon Canada, Turner will work with high-performance coaches and programs to enhance the daily training and competitive environments, strengthen training groups with world-class partners to encourage athlete development, and create a an accountable development system from the junior to elite level.

“It is our role as coaches to develop the next generation of podium potential athletes for Canada to follow in the footsteps of the great Simon Whitfield, and to do this, I believe we have to raise the standard of high-performance coaching on home soil, while at the same time, expose our young talent to the real demands of competition,” said Turner. “Our goal is to win medals in major events, and our joint pursuit of this as a team will be relentless. Everything we do will target excellence.”

As a coach, I feel it is vital to be a trailblazer and be prepared to take risks,” added Turner. “I commend Triathlon Canada for looking outside the box, and work with me to introduce new ideas and innovations for the sport which I’m proud to be a part of. This is a program with loads of potential. We will demand nothing short of excellence from our athletes, coaches and support staff, and together, I know we can, and will, win.”

Here is Jamie giving some swim tips on a video by Bobby McGee.