Steve Larsen, the American hotshot who is signed up to challenge
defending champ Cameron Brown in Ironman New Zealand on March 2, has
come up with an injury. He informed race organizers on the weekend that
he may not be ready to race in Taupo in five weeks.

Larsen, who led the field off the bike on debut at the Ironman Triathlon
World Championships in Hawaii, eventually finished ninth. Brown came
from 11 minutes behind off the bike to pass Larsen at the 32km mark on
the run and go on to finish second.

Said Brown on hearing Larsen's bad news: "If Larsen recovers, then he
adds an element to the race because he is remarkable on the bike."

With or without Larsen, the men's field is typically strong. It includes
a pair from the Czech Republic, Petr Vabrousek and Jan Rehula. It was
only one year ago this week that Rehula, the Olympic bronze-medalist,
suffered his life-threatening injury while training on his bike in
Australia. He recovered fully and managed to race his first Ironman in
Switzerland last August, taking fifth.

Now he is training again in Sydney, where one of his partners, Britain's
Paul Amey, has also announced he is racing Ironman New Zealand.

Others also signed up include Australia's John Van Wisse and Justin
Grainger; Felix Hartinez (Spain); James Bonney, Alexander Durst and
Peter Valentyik, all USA; Konrad van Allmen (Switzerland); Thomas Evans
(Canada); Jonas Colting (Sweden); Xavier Le Floch (France); and New
Zealand's Stephen Sheldrake; Brent Sheldrake; and Scott Ballance.

The women's field will be announced in a few days.