Brad Kahlefeldt

Nickname : Sticksy
Date of Birth : 27 July 1979 Age 27
Resides : Gold Coast/Wagga Wagga
Favorite Foods : Banana pancakes, ice cream,Mexican,Italian
Favorite Pastimes : Enjoy relaxing movies,coffee,travel,learning German and French
Family : One of 6 children who grew up in Wagga Wagga country NSW. Parents are both Marathon runners.
Training: Trains with “Triathlon Gold”. www.triathlongold.com.au
Coach : Bill Daveron

Brad grew up in the small country town of Temora NSW with his 3 sisters and 2 brothers. After 8 years he moved to Wagga Wagga, which is a one-hour drive from Temora. Growing up in the “city of good sports” like a lot of the youth he tried a lot of sports, which included, basketball, soccer, athletics, cricket, Australian rules football. He enjoyed Australian Rules football winning the best and fairest twice and running in the 1500m/3000m and cross-country events at national level. But unfortunately he had to make the tough decision to pursue running over football. He continued running but decided to compete in his first triathlon in Canberra in 1993. He enjoyed it but his swim leg let him down. So he decided to take up the sport duathlon, which consists of run/ride/run, he represented Australia in the juniors in Italy in 1996 and the year later in 1997 in Spain.

The years later Brad decided to dedicate a lot of his time improving his swim with up to 60 km a week in the pool. After 2 years of this mileage brad swim slowly improved and this showed in his results, winning some of the biggest juniors triathlons in Australia and was selected for the Triathlon World Championships in Lausanne in 1998. Unfortunately Brad’s chain snapped after 5km and was forced to withdraw from the race. The year later with some respectable performances in the elite category in Australia and Overseas Brad went over to Montreal Canada with a medal in mind. Again disappointment set in and was diagnosed with a tibia stress fracture two days before the junior world championships forcing him out of the race and 6 months rest from training. The years followed and now living up on the Gold Coast it was quite disappointing period with a couple good results then he was diagnosed with another stress fracture of the femoral neck with another 6 months out. When things couldn’t go much worse in 2001 was a similar year with brad again sidelined for more than 5 months out with another Tibia stress fracture. But strong willed and determined to carry on in the sport he loved until he achieved the goals he set out to do in his sport he rested and waited for the injury to repair. He was back in 2002 injury free and motivated to perform. He got his first top 5 result in a world cup in the USA and went on from there, finishing the year the U23 World Champion, winning by more than one and a half minutes in the extreme heat in Cancun Mexico.

The following years Brad came through the elite ranks stood on the podium many times in World Cups and international races, named in the 2003,2004,2005 and 2006 Australian Elite team. With his best result a bronze medal in Gamorgori Japan in 2005. He was ranked number 1 in the world the following week.

2006 Brad won 10 major races including gold medal at the Commwealth Games in Melbourne and went on to become Australian Champion and win 4 World Cups and in the one year .

2007 Brad is focused on becoming World Champion and gain Olympic selction for Beijing 2008.

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