Pois, pois...

Snowsill pulls out of Austrian triathlon

Thu Jul 9 2009

Olympic gold medallist Emma Snowsill has opted not to race in Austria this weekend.

Record-setting Emma Snowsill has taken a safety-first approach and withdrawn from this weekend's round of the triathlon world championship series in Kitzbühel.

With Snowsill desperate to win an unprecedented fourth world championship later this year in front of her home-town fans on the Gold Coast, the Olympic gold medallist has opted not to race in Austria with a hip complaint.

While initial scans have cleared Snowsill of any serious damage, there is some inflammation evident in the joint.

The Queenslander is well placed in second spot on the world championship rankings, having won gold and silver from two starts, making her decision to rest as a precautionary measure an easy one.

"There doesn't seem to be any major complications but I was experiencing pain in my hip during my last couple of races in the United States and I've been advised to take a short break from competition," Snowsill said.

"This is a very long race season and with the grand final of the world championships being held on the Gold Coast in September, I want to manage the situation carefully in these early stages so that hopefully I can be at my peak in the final part of the year."

While Snowsill is out this weekend, her training partner Emma Moffatt is enjoying unprecedented form and eyeing a hat-trick of victories.

Moffatt blitzed the field in the world championship series race in Washington before proving equally dominant in Iowa the following weekend to walk away with triathlon's richest first prize cheque of $US200,000 ($A256,700).

With the second-placed Snowsill her nearest rival on the world championship standings, Moffatt, who won bronze in Beijing, has a great opportunity to extend her lead this weekend.

Emma Snowsill has been told her hip injury needs a rest, forcing her to withdraw from the field for this weekend's world championship race in Kitzbuhel, Austria