Rising triathlete Daniel Coleman is jetting to Asia this week (Wednesday, June 22) in a bid to attract the attention of selectors ahead of the Under-23's World Triathlon Championships in Mexico in September.
The 21-year-old Bond University student will cover three races in Japan and Singapore, part of his Asian tour, during the four week trip, along with a 10-day stint at one of the world's most recognised sporting facilities in Thailand.
He will be joined by his coach, Triathlon Australia National Performance Centre head coach Dan Atkins, and training partner, Jaz Hedgeland.
Coleman was recognised as one of Australia's leading junior men and competed as part of the 2014 junior world squad at just 19 years old.
He then suffered a stress fracture in his femoral shaft - a break to the thighbone - in June last year in the lead up to the selection of the U23 world squad and was sidelined until October.
Since then, he has been working on his recovery while balancing his studies at Bond, where he is studying a Bachelor of Business on the 2016 ADCO Sports Excellence Scholarship.
"I was looking really good to head over to the worlds last year, but was injured two months before selection," said Coleman.
"A femoral shaft is quite a difficult injury to recover from, so I have been trying to get back to full fitness and while my results haven't been at the same level as this time last year, I am starting to turn that around.
"In the last month I have seen my fitness come back in training, so these events have come at a really good time for me."
Coleman will first tackle the ITU Gamagori Asian Cup in Gamagori, Japan, on June 26.
He will then head to the world-recognised Thanyapura Phuket resort in Thailand - a 23 hectare sports, health and educational complex, credited with offering some of the best sports facilities and coaching expertise in Asia - for an intensive training camp.
He will follow with the ITU Osaka Sprint Asian Cup in Japan on July 10, and the ITU Singapore Asian Cup on July 16.
Coleman said he was hoping strong performances in the events would position him well to be selected as one of three athletes for the Under-23 World Triathlon team.
"This year's World Championships are in Cozumel in Mexico in September, so we will be racing in a hot and humid climate," he said.
"Competing in the upcoming Asia Cup events will help me to acclimatise for those temperatures ahead of the worlds and, if I get the results, should sit well with selectors because of the similarities in climate."
Coleman is in the first year of his Bachelor of Business at Bond University, where he is looking to major in business management or marketing.
He is also a member of the Bond Elite Sport Program (BESP), which provides flexible study loads and support to assist upcoming athletes to balance their sporting aspirations and study. As a BESP athlete, Coleman received $2,000 from the Elite Athlete Fund to go towards his upcoming trip to Asia.
"Bond has been really helpful in assisting to fit my studies in with my training schedule, which has been key to dividing my time between the two," said Coleman.
His squad also trains at Bond's new elite multi-million dollar Sports Centre, which includes a gym with state-of-the-art fitness equipment, alongside its Olympic-sized swimming pool.