For any triathlon fan who watched the test events in Paris last month, the Olympics cannot come soon enough – especially if you’re British.
The dress rehearsal a year out from the main event has typically proven to be a mixed indicator of what might happen when the full glare of the sporting world lands upon swim, bike and run.
But producing winners of both individual events in Beth Potter and Alex Yee on a course seemingly tailor-made for the pair isn’t a bad omen.
There is every reason to be optimistic. The boulevards of the bike leg might serve the purpose of showing off the architectural delights of the French capital, but bar a few cobbles, the flat loops on wide carriageways make the probability of a breakaway sticking a real challenge.
Lacking firepower
It’s particularly so on the men’s side where the firepower and will to work at the front has been lacking for several years now, arguably since the days of the Brownlee brothers’ breakaways.
It provides a safety net for Yee that even if he has a below-par swim – and it is far from the weakness it once was – that he’ll be at the front with a big group come T2. From there a 29min flat 10km on an accurate course looks unlikely to be in any other athlete’s armoury.
The women’s side is more unpredictable, but shorn of the swim speed of Jess Learmonth, looking ahead to the birth of her first child, and without defending Olympic champion Flora Duffy, there was also a lack of impetus for a breakaway in Paris.
But just as Yee’s swim and bike have developed, so too has Potter’s all-round ability. It’s easy to forget that the 31-year-old only turned to multisport from the track following the Rio Olympics of 2016.
Swim concerns
The French organisers will move hell and high water (and presumably all the sewage overflow water) to make sure that unlike the paratriathlon and mixed team relay test events, the swim in the Seine isn’t cancelled.
But given that there's still a real concern that athletes could fall sick in the five days between the Olympic individual events and the mixed relay in 2024, a duathlon shouldn’t be ruled out.
If it comes to pass, although they’ll want a triathlon and not an asterisk over their legacy, more running puts Yee and Potter in an even more advantageous position.
Who has qualified for the GB Olympic triathlon team?
Yee’s performance secured his Olympic selection, although barring injury it was already a formality. He also moved top of the World Triathlon Championship Series rankings and will face Hayden Wilde in Pontevedra on the last weekend of September for a chance to become world champion.
Having already won three times in the series in 2023 it would be well deserved and reward the Londoner with the title he so narrowly missed out on last year.
Technically Potter needs to secure a podium in Spain to secure her own return to Paris next year, but with GB’s policy allowing for two discretionary picks before the end of the year, the selectors must be leaning towards locking in a position for the Scot now, removing any additional selection stress ahead next summer, and – like Yee – allowing her freedom to plot the best preparation.
Potter also has the small matter of the world title to consider, and is also locked in a winner-takes-all showdown, in this case with France’s Loughborough-based No. 1, Cassandre Beaugrand.
Either would be a worthy champion, and should Potter achieve it, she will become the fifth British woman, following Helen Jenkins, Non Stanford, Vicky Holland and Georgia Taylor-Brown to be crowned world champion since the series started in 2009.
Given it has been an era defined by Emma Snowsill, Nicola Spirig, Gwen Jorgensen and Duffy, it’s a feat by the British women that deserves to be lauded.
More GB stars in the wings
But while imploring the Games to hurry up, there’s also a few reasons to be patient.
On the women’s side, it gives Taylor-Brown the chance to recover from a substantial Achilles tear and a window for Learmonth to decide whether she wishes to attempt qualification following maternity [she recently told 220 that this was her intention].
With Sophie Coldwell a WTCS winner in 2023 and world under-23 champion Kate Waugh – seventh in the test event – a growing force, there’s no shortage of talent queuing up.
For the men, it allows Jonny Brownlee to continue to work his way back to fitness following a hamstring tendinopathy. While Brownlee may no longer be the athlete who secured 42 straight podiums between 2010 and 2014, his racing nouse and swim-bike consistency make him a cornerstone of any relay squad.
His return to Super League action in London at the weekend, where he finished second to Yee, showed as long as the fitness is there, so is the fire.
There’s also the quietly improving Barclay Izzard, who is currently ranked 43rd and has an opportunity to secure the third individual spot that was missed in Tokyo after too many points were let slide in the first part of the qualification process.
Memories are still fresh of Tom Bishop embarking on an ultimately futile global quest of five races in as many weeks that resulted in a lot of air miles and learnings.
With two more solid performances, Izzard could force his way into a position to earn a third GB spot, which might prove critical, not just for the individual event, but as a reserve option for the mixed team relay.
Three athletes in the top 30 is the proxy for what it will take to secure the maximum three berths and Brownlee also has some work to do to rank highly enough. If neither makes it, GB will still have two individual places due to having qualified a mixed relay team.
For more epic imagery and learnings from the Paris Test Event, don't miss the next issue of 220 Triathlon, on sale 3 October.
Top image credit: Wagner Araujo/World Triathlon
