IN an attempt to increase his already high career trajectory, Jervis Bay's Troy Whitington has decided to spend the next couple of months working on his craft in Europe.
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Over the past few months, the former Vincentia High School student has enjoyed some strong result around Australia, including a race win at St Kilda in January.
"Since St Kilda, I have completed three races which were apart of the Australian under 23 series," Whittington said.
"They were the Devonport Oceania Spring Championships in March, Gold Coast Oceania Continental Cup and Moreton Bay Standard Distance Oceania Championships on April. 2.
"The last few months of competitions was a big learning experience competing against world class athletes from the Oceania region as well as international competitors.
Related content: Whittington claims silver at Australia Day Aquathon
"This season was all about competing and making mistakes and then going back to training and working on those areas not so much focusing on the result at this point in time."
On the back of these results, the 19-year-old was presented the opportunity of a lifetime - to train with the Dimensione Dello Sport triathlon team, who are based in Settimo Milanese just outside Milan.
"This opportunity came about through one of the Triathlon Australia coaches who is Italian and is a manager who recruits Australian triathletes to come over and compete for the club," he said.
"It's a really exciting opportunity - I've never been overseas and away for such a long period of time.
"I'm really looking forward to putting myself out of my comfort zone and getting the most out of the whole experience as an athlete and on a personal level."
On top of the full on training schedule, Whittington intends to race every weekend
"A couple of the major competitions I have my eyes on are the Bardolino Triathlon on June 15 and Poznan Poland Superleague qualifier on June 28-30," he said.
Related content: Troy Whittington finished fourth at national cross-country titles
With high hopes for the future, Whittington intends to make the most of this opportunity abroad, before returning home on August 15.
"The training experience will be very valuable in my development as I aspire to become a professional triathlete," he said.
"A professional triathlete spends most of the year overseas away from home and in foreign environments racing and training.
"This experience will help me understand how to take care of nutrition for training and racing away from what I'm normally used to.
"These include getting accustomed to different time zones while training and racing, being apart of different training groups and coaching philosophies and taking care of my nutrition - having to cook all my meals everyday.
"I'm really looking forward to learning as much as I can."