Tasmanian athletes closing in on Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games

As the state seeks to improve on its representation of 15 in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, our sports men and women can be found as far afield as Switzerland, Spain and England as well as every Australian state capital.

From cycling to canoeing and soccer to swimming, here is the latest on where they are at.

King Island's Stewart McSweyn, who has already achieved the selection standard for 1500, 5000 and 10,000 metres, is using the European circuit to finalise his preparation.

Last Wednesday he paced Joshua Cheptegei's 3km world record attempt in the Czech city of Ostrava before contesting a 1500m in England on Sunday.

"I will be using these hit outs to see where my early season European form is at and then continue to work on what areas I think I need to prior to peaking for the Tokyo Games," he told The Examiner from London.

Jack Hale and Jacob Despard will be part of a relay squad training camp in Queensland at the end of May. The Hobart pair will then compete in two Oceania invitational events on June 5 and 12 chasing the qualifying mark of 38.41 for the 4x100m. If this is achieved, a team of five will be selected for Tokyo.

Also competing at both Oceania invitational events will be Rio veterans Hamish Peacock, of Hobart, chasing a qualifying distance in the javelin, and Launceston's 2012 Paralympic shot put champ Todd Hodgetts fresh from a camp in Townsville.

Forth's Deon Kenzie, who won a silver medal in the T38 1500m at the 2016 Paralympics, is at an altitude training at Falls Creek having already been selected.

Having claimed his second NBL title - along with grand final MVP honours - in 2018, Launceston-born shooting guard Chris Goulding is leading Melbourne United towards similar success this year.

An 11-game winning streak was finally broken two weeks ago and the ladder leader's talismanic captain remains part of Brian Goorjian's 24-man Boomers Olympic squad which includes 12 with NBA experience, seven backing up from Rio and is headlined by Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, Matthew Dellavedova and two-time NBA All-Star Ben Simmons. The final 12-member team will be announced soon.

With the Penrith Whitewater Stadium out of action, Grove's Daniel Watkins has returned home to train on Tasmanian abundant natural whitewater.

Paddle Australia is hosting a canoe sprint champs in Adelaide this month.

Watkins, who has been selected to contest the canoeing and be reserve in the kayak, said it was an honour to be part of the Australian Olympic team uniform unveiling last week.

"Putting on the uniform is making it feel really close and I'm more excited then ever to get to Tokyo and wear the Green and Gold," he said.

Fresh from an INEOS Grenadiers training camp in Spain's Canary Islands, Launceston's Richie Porte has been named in the Australian Olympic road cycling team.

Porte, whose two completed WorldTour races since returning to Europe both yielded second places, is preparing for his 11th Tour de France which is due to finish just six days before the road race in Tokyo.

Perth's Georgia Baker is at the National Training Centre in Adelaide but will join the track cycling team's pre-Olympic training bubble in Brisbane on June 7 before heading to Tokyo.

West Pine's Amy Cure was also named for what would have been her third Olympic Games, but she has since retired.

With both the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos heading to Palmerston North in New Zealand for a four-match Trans-Tasman Series at the end of this month, Hobart trio Eddie Ockenden, Josh Beltz and Jack Welch are all vying for national selection.

Tokyo would be a fourth Olympics for Ockenden who is Australia's most-capped hockey player.

Tasmanian-born Renee Taylor, who moved to Queensland as a youngster, is also chasing a Games berth with the Hockeyroos.

While Huon's Sarah Hawe and Tamar's Ciona Wilson remain in contention to make the sweep squad, Georgia Nesbitt, also of Huon, has returned home from Switzerland having failed to qualify a lightweight double scull boat for the Games.

"Unfortunately you don't always get the outcome you want, in life or sport," Nesbitt said on Instagram. "And it really sucks when it ends before you're ready to call it. Although we didn't get the ending we wanted, we've had some great achievements and good times along the way. So as always, take the good with the bad."

Riverside Olympic product Nathaniel Atkinson is fighting to regain his fitness after sustaining a hamstring injury in April playing for Melbourne City in the A-League.

"My focus is to get my body and mind to peak fitness ready to be in contention for the Olympics," he said on Instagram. "As the saying goes: a minor setback for a major comeback."

Launceston's four-time world champion Ariarne Titmus and Devonport's Rio Paralympian Jacob Templeton will both compete at Swimming Australia's Olympic Trials in Adelaide from June 12-17.

Titmus, who won three gold and one silver medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, is in line to contest the 200, 400 and 800m freestyles and 4x200m relay.

Denied the chance to contest the opening World Triathlon Series race in Japan due to illness, Riverside's Jake Birtwhistle travelled to the Spanish city of Girona to resume training which will include an altitude camp in the nearby Pyrenees.

Reunited with his training partners and coach Joel Filliol, the junior world champion and dual-Commonwealth Games medallist, who has already secured a selection nomination for the Olympics, plans to contest the next WTS race in Leeds, where he won in 2019.

After the altitude camp, Birtwhistle will return to his base in Girona for a final few weeks of training before departing for Tokyo.