Athletes Men › Kenji Nener
Kenji Nener never quit on his Olympic dream – and by finishing 14th in Tokyo proved his faith was justified. Kenji grew up in Perth, Western Australia and began to dabble in triathlon aged 13 having grown up playing ball sports such as tennis and football. He realised that he could be good enough to make a career out of the sport if he fully focussed on it and so made the move to Queensland to work with coach Chris Lang and join a training group that contained the likes of Brad Kahlefeldt and Emma Moffatt. It was the making of Kenji and would help him launch a professional career.
But for all the promise, Kenji found himself falling down the pecking order in the Australian system and by 2017 decided he needed to make a change. Having been born to an Australian father and a Japanese mother, Kenji made the decision to switch allegiance and to race for Japan instead. Being part of the Japanese system helped fire Kenji to top ten places in the Asian Games and accelerate his development as an athlete. He was officially representing Japan by the end of 2018 and was given Japanese citizenship in April 2021.
Kenji felt he was about to have a breakthrough race at elite level when in 2020 he came into T2 at Karlovy Vary with Vincent Luis only to see his chances of a podium spot destroyed after an accidental coming together with another athlete.
However, Kenji knew he was on the cusp of a big result and delivered in the colours of Japan at a home Olympics where he finished 14th ahead of many more experienced and celebrated athletes. He was also part of Japan’s Mixed Relay team.
Results posted shortly after the race may contain errors.
RR - Race Ready | TBD - To Be Determined | DNS - Did Not Start | DNF - Did Not Finish
Announcements Championship Latest News Races Toulouse
Championship Munich
Championship Teams
Championship 2021
Malibu 25 Sep 2021
Jersey 18 Sep 2021
Munich 12 Sep 2021
London 5 Sep 2021