series and be ranked number 1 in the World in a single season. McCormack would be ranked ITU World number 1 for more than 26 months in total. McCormack was left off the Australia Olympic Team for the 2000 Sydney Olympics despite being the highest-ranking Australian in the world (number 3). He left Australia for the US, moving away from the ITU World Cup racing and into the U.S. racing scene. McCormack would remain undefeated in the US for 3 years and 33 consecutive triathlon races. He won the 2001 Goodwill Games race against the top 30 athletes in the world and made clear his disapproval of Australian selector's decisions to leave him off the Olympic Team, dominating short course triathlon racing in 2000, 2001 and 2002. He was picked for the Australian Team to represent at the Commonwealth Games in England in 2002, and won 3 Triathlete of the Year awards for his racing during this period. Before moving to Ironman distance races McCormack won almost every major short course title on the global triathlon calendar including the ITU World Cup Series, Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon, Mrs T's Chicago International Triathlon, San Diego International Triathlon, New York City International Triathlon and LA International Triathlon. He also became the first triathlete in a decade to capture the US Triple Crown. In 2001, McCormack was again crowned Global Triathlete Of The Year and Competitor Of The Year and became the only triathlete ever to hold the USA Professional Championship Title and the USA Sprint Course Title in one season. Ironman racing In 2002, Macca shifted his focus to Ironman racing. He won Ironman Australia on debut in 2002 and then defended that title in 2003, winning again in 2004, 2005 and 2006 to beat the previous consecutive win record set by Pauli Kiuru. Macca's first race at the distance in Europe in 2003 eventuated in one of the sport's greatest races in Roth, Germany, where Macca was beaten in a sprint finish by Lothar Leder (winner of more than 13 Ironman events). Macca won the event eventually in 2004, followed by 2005, 2006, and 2007. He went under 8 hours at Challenge Roth in 2004 (7:57:50), becoming the first non-European to do so. He did so again in 2005 (7:56:13) and 2007 (7:54:22). In 2008, McCormack broke the 8-hour mark at Ironman in Frankfurt, becoming the first man to go under