The 44-year-old New Zealander, who works for Triathlon Canada, has added the 20-year-old Triathlon Australia talent squad member to his ‘‘fusion’’ group of about a dozen athletes which includes Canadians, Australians and visiting internationals who opt in and out at different times of the year.

TA’s national manager of high performance pathway Craig Redman coached Birtwhistle during his formative years in Launceston and recommended the Turner group for his development.

After what Turner described as a ‘‘look, search and discovery experience’’, the Tasmanian talent joined the Wizards.

‘‘Obviously, for a young man like Jake, one of the main things is to be able to immerse himself in what we call a competitive daily compliance environment. Jake didn’t have a lot of exposure to his competitors living in Launceston,’’ Turner said.

‘‘So, he was sort of assigned to me. Jake came and spent some time with us at Falls Creek and in Wollongong and he decided this environment and coaching were good for him at this point in time.

‘‘We have 13 or 14 athletes that I look after and some other athletes who come in and what we call ‘profit share’.

‘‘Often they will say ‘can I come and train with you for this period of time’ and they can benefit from what we’ve got – the weather and environment in Australia and our training sessions and we can benefit from them.

‘‘I have three Canadian males and Jake’s Australian counterparts in Aaron Royle, Ryan Bailie and Brendan Sexton.

‘‘I think it is quite an important thing for Jake to be exposed to these guys. I don’t like talking about leading Australians but Aaron and Ryan are both top-10 ranked athletes in the world. For someone like Jake who is learning about training and triathlons it is good to have that exposure daily to others performing well above his level.’’

The improvement in Birtwhistle after about 14 months with the Wizards has been obvious this season with him completing the rare feat of a clean sweep of Triathlon Australia’s major national championships winning the Standard (Olympic distance) Oceania and Australian Championships in Devonport last month and the Wollongong OTU Sprint Triathlon Oceania Cup.

He is believed to be the first triathlete to win the elite and under-23 Australian Standard (Olympic) Distance and Sprint Distance Championships in one season.

He followed that up with a close second in the ITU Mooloolaba World Cup race last weekend behind experienced Frenchman David Hauss in only his second World Cup race. He will step up another level next weekend when he makes his World Triathlon Series debut in Auckland.

For coach Turner, the WTS will be a major focus for Birtwhistle this year to see how he adapts and copes with competition at the highest international level.

‘‘Triathlon has a number of levels - you have the world triathlon series with various rounds around the world like F1 – the series features 10 races I think this year,’’ Turner said.

‘‘For Jake racing WTS is a new concept and he will get his first taste in Auckland on Sunday.

‘‘His entry into an event like that is like coming here to train for the first time – a real look search and discover.

‘‘There are no performance expectations on Jake in any of these World Series races. In terms of his development, for me his core business this season is his performance at World Cups.

‘‘Jake has had a couple of races in the Continental championships this year and has performed well in those relative to the quality of the field.

‘‘But certainly the quality of field he will be up against in Auckland is something he has never experienced before.

‘‘We won’t be measuring Jake on his performance there but merely to see if he can put his processes in place under that competition realm. If he adapts and copes with that environment we will decide whether we pursue that a little more or come back to World Cup events which are critical to his development.’’

Turner also has Birtwhistle gaining a podium finish at the under-23 world championships later in the year as another of his three key priorities.

He said Birtwhistle’s ability to turn up and deliver a one-off podium performance at the world championships in Chicago in mid-September would be another important indicator.

Birtwhistle’s performance in his WTS debut in Auckland next weekend will have added interest for Turner with the course expected to be similar to the one athletes will experience in Rio De Janeiro for next year’s Olympic Games.

‘‘Jake will be vying for selection for the test event in Rio this year. It will be the key Olympic selection race for most countries,’’ Turner said.

‘‘Jake certainly wants to put himself in a position where he demonstrates to the selectors that he has produced high level performances at World Cups and has got the most out of himself in World Series races this year and that he is a worthy contender to be given the opportunity to perform in Rio.

‘‘One of the reasons we are targeting Auckland as his first race, having by-passed Abu Dhabi, is that Auckland has the course most like Rio.

‘‘I want Jake to have a good preparation alongside Aaron and Ryan who have had good performances there.

‘‘Aaron was on the podium last year and I wanted him to be exposed to the daily rigours of preparing for a course like Rio with a saltwater swim, quite a hilly bike ride and a fast flat run.

‘‘It will be the same deal for him in 2016 – to execute performances at the highest level which is World Series races. If he performs well in those and if he has a good race in the Rio test race then he should be putting his hand up for national teams at the Olympics.

‘‘It’s important with Jake that we put executing performances at the highest level of competition in front of him rather than put selection in front of him.

‘‘It’s important to provide a bit of a safety net so if things don’t go according to plan you come back to a familiar safe environment and then take a step back up the ladder again – I’m conscious of not over-exposing him.’’