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Gentle tops team for triathlon grand final

Roger VaughanAAP
Ashleigh Gentle leads the Aussie team at the grand final of the world triathlon series next month.
Camera IconAshleigh Gentle leads the Aussie team at the grand final of the world triathlon series next month.

In-form Rio Olympian Ashleigh Gentle will lead a strong Australian team at next month's grand final of the world triathlon series.

Gentle won her first series race last week in Montreal, making a last-minute decision to enter because of illness.

She is only the fourth Australian woman to win a world series round and paid a price, fainting after the finish and needing an IV drip.

Gentle is second in the series rankings behind defending champion Flora Duffy from Bermuda, who was runner-up at Montreal.

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Duffy leads Gentle with 3940 points to 3286 ahead of the last two rounds in Stockholm on August 26-27 and Rotterdam, the world championships, on September 15-16.

Gentle also has finished second this season at the Gold Coast and Hamburg rounds.

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The Gold Coast result earned her an automatic nomination for the Commonwealth Games team.

Gentle is among four of the six Rio Olympians who are in the Australian elite team for the Rotterdam grand final.

Aaron Royle, Ryan Bailie and Emma Jackson will also compete in Rotterdam.

Ryan Fisher has switched to long-course triathlon and London Olympics bronze medallist Erin Densham is semi-retired from pro racing.

Jake Birtwhistle, who narrrowly missed out on Rio selection, Charlotte McShane, Natalie Van Coevorden and Gillian Backhouse are also in the Rotterdam team.

Birtwhistle also has a Commonwealth Games nomination and is the leading Australian at sixth in the men's world series rankings.

McShane (eighth) and Backhouse (ninth) also are among the women's leaders.

Birtwhistle (205) and McShane (2013) are former under-23 world champions.

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