World Ranking Boost For Irish Men

Bryan Keane, Ben Shaw and Conor Murphy have all jumped up the world rankings following their superb World Triathlon Series openers in Auckland last weekend.

Bryan Keane continues his rise to the top, up from 160th in 2012 when he was largely out of the game, rehabilitating from injury, up to 49th going into Auckland.

His 17th place finish in Auckland's World Series race, pitted against the best in the business has seen his ranking jump a further 4 places up to 45th.

Keane, who has 7 European and World Cup podiums to his name has his sights set higher still.

"Ultimately my goal is to hit the 20's by the end of the season." He tells us.

Ben Shaw has moved up two places on the ITU Points ranking to 51st thanks to his 21st place finish in Auckland. The race was Shaw's international season opener and with plenty of racing left this season he will be hoping to continue his rise.

Conor Murphy, in his World Series debut finished an impressive 22nd after a solid swim, bike and run. That gave the Armagh man a hefty haul of points and moved him up 15 places to 91st, one of the largest jumps of the top 150 ranked men.

With Bryan Keane and Conor Murphy both down for the iconic Cape Town leg of the World Triathlon Series on the 26th of April there are more big points on offer while Ben Shaw is off to China for the Zhenjiang ITU Asian Cup on the same day.

Competition is set to hot up as the Olympic Qualification period opens on the 15th of May with the first race inside the window being the Yokohama leg of the World Triathlon Series.