Gemmell firing for nationals

Kris Gemmell is a hot favourite for tomorrow's national championships in Wellington, but it doesn't make him nervous.

If anything, it spurs the Palmerston North 32-year-old on, and after his win in Takapuna a fortnight ago he would love to continue his good form leading into the world series which starts in Sydney next month.

"I'm pretty focused and I know where I have to be at each period during the year," Gemmell said.

"I'm looking at continually improving all the time, using last year as a gauge."

Bevan Docherty isn't racing in Wellington tomorrow and is back in the United States, continuing his build-up to the world series. So Gemmell will be tough to beat over the 750-metre swim, 40-kilometre cycle and 10km run.

Usually the swim would be 1500m but the shorter distance will assist Gemmell, who acknowledged it was his weakest discipline.

He will have competition from world No 6, Frenchman Laurent Vidal, and Kiwis Clark Ellice and Martin van Barneveld.

Gemmell has spent the past week in the Cardrona Valley near Wanaka doing altitude training with the New Zealand high performance squad and he said doing a race after altitude training was vital.

"It was in my programme for a reason," he explained.

"I always like to do a race after spending some time at altitude. I'm looking forward to it."

He will have a light week following the race to recover.

Tomorrow's race is effectively a training run but Gemmell said he still wanted to perform well.

"It's not the most important race of the year but it's the Oceania champs and the national champs and it's also nice to race well at home."

Gemmell is aiming to peak twice this year, in Madrid in June and then for the world final in Budapest in September.

"Those months are a long long way away so you've got to be really careful about where your preparation is all the time."

Gemmell will return to Palmerston North on Sunday and continue his build up to Sydney.

- © Fairfax NZ News