In August, 15-year-old Kiwi Dan Hoy will head to Nanjing, China to compete on the world stage at the Youth Olympic Games. Hoy qualified for YOG as the top athlete from New Zealand at the 2014 Penrith ITU Triathlon Oceania Youth Olympics Qualifier. We took a few minutes to get to know the up and comer and what he’s looking forward to ahead of his international debut.

What are your expectations of Nanjing and China generally?
The weather will play a big part in preparing and racing because of the humidity and heat, but that suits me as I don’t like the cold too much and I learnt a lot from the racing in the heat in Penrith. Eating could be a challenge, I’m not sure what to expect food wise and I expect it to be busy with people everywhere…

How big is triathlon in your life right now? Put it into perspective for us.
Triathlon is a massive part of my life, the training takes up a lot of time. I train on average for around 18 – 20 hours a week.

What else do you do outside of triathlon?
School is the other biggest commitment and will be for the next few years as I am only in year 11. When I’m not training or at school I love to go to the beach or hang out with friends outside of triathlon.

If you weren’t a triathlete preparing to race at the YOG, what would you be doing?
Having a life, only joking! My training would be base and endurance training getting ready for next season.  If I wasn’t a tri athlete I would probably be a runner because that is my strongest discipline but I would find that boring running everyday not having anything else to mix it up with.

What have you been up to since your selection?
After the selection I was still in hard training for the NZ schools Triathlon and the age group ITU race in Auckland to finish off the season. My break came at the perfect time after a long season of racing.

What are your favourite subjects at school and why?
My favourite subject would have to be PE because its all about health and sport which I am most passionate about, I also like maths with algebra and the challenge that comes with it!

What about the worst, what would you rather not have to go to?
This would probably have to be geography when we are doing mapping, as I don’t find any enjoyment at looking and reading about maps!