Commonwealth gold medallist Vicky Holland insists she is yet to reach her peak in triathlon, while Johanna Konta’s rapid rise continues as she is named inside the top 30 players in the world following the latest rankings. Here’s all the news from the last 24 hours.
Vicky Holland is adamant that previous success at major events will help her when she lines up at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games this summer.
Holland's performances in the World Triathlon Series over the past 12 months not only earned Team GB a quota spot at Rio 2016 but also pushed her claims for a spot in the squad in Brazil.
Having finished 26th at London 2012, the 30-year-old picked up bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games – her first major individual medal – while also claiming gold in the mixed triathlon team relay.
And as she continues her preparations for the upcoming Olympics, Holland admits that individual bronze at the Commonwealths has her confident that more success could be on the horizon.
"Until you actually put yourself on the podium at a big race or a major championships, it's hard to really, really feel that confident," explained Holland.
"It [winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games] changed my attitude, it changed what I thought I could do and it changed where my perimeters lay in my own brain as much as anything else.
"Since then I've reset my boundaries and where I think I can go to. I don't think that I've reached my real peak yet, I think there's still a little bit more to come."
Britain’s Johanna Konta has continued her rise up the world rankings by being named in the top 30 for the first time.
The 24-year-old was rewarded for reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open by jumping from 47 to 28 in the WTA world rankings.
It continues a remarkable improvement for Konta who was ranked barely inside the top 150 last July. Britain’s number two Heather Watson is now 85th in the world.
As Australian Opens go, the 2016 edition will go down as somewhat of a bonzer fortnight for the Brits – and the opening weeks of the year certainly point to promising signs for Team GB’s Olympic tennis hopes come Rio.
Once again Andy Murray led the charge in the men’s singles, reaching his fifth final in Melbourne before old nemesis Novak Djokovic blocked his path to the trophy once more. Just 24 hours before, Murray had been courtside as older brother Jamie became the first Briton to win the Australian Open men’s doubles title in 82 years when he and Bruno Soares beat Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek in three sets.
And as if the history books did not have enough new entries with the Murray siblings becoming the first brothers to reach the final of the men’s singles and men’s doubles events at a Grand Slam in the Open era, there was also the small matter of the continued emergence of Johanna Konta.
All of this bodes very well when it comes to Team GB trying to better their gold and silver medal from the tennis at London 2012. Read more here.
Adam Peaty’s list of awards continues to grow after he received the award for Best Swimming Performance at the FINA World Aquatics Gala.
Peaty enjoyed a stellar 2015, including winning three gold medals at the World Championships and lowering three world records.
And his efforts did not go unnoticed as he was honoured at the celebration evening in Hungary at the weekend.
Mel Marshall was also recognised for the role she plays as Peaty’s coach while world champion Gary Hunt was also awarded the Male High Diving Athlete of the Year gong, with his coach Alex Rochas also gaining the plaudits.
Britain’s archers enjoyed a solid outing in Las Vegas at the World Archery Festival, with a number of high placings.
Among was the highlights was Ashe Morgan who finished second in the top recurve flight groups, Dwight Hagley who secured a first place in the recurve compound group, and Naomi Folkard who finished joint 11th in the championship categories after earlier reaching the quarter final of the Indoor Archery World Cup.
Five of the archers with Olympic ambitions – Sean Evans, Patrick Huston, Alex Smith, Ashe Morgan and Naomi Folkard – will now head to Chula Vista Archery Centre in California to join other GB Olympic hopefuls Brad Denny, Kieran Slater, Sally Gilder, Amy Oliver, Bryony Pitman, Becky Martin and Nicky Hunt.
The aim is to take advantage of warm weather training and competition with other leading and Olympic qualifying nations such as USA, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and Japan.
Performance Director David Tillotson said: "This is an excellent pre-season training opportunity, with a camp followed by a competition.
“It will allow our archers to test themselves against high-level international competitors with warm temperatures and in wind conditions likely to be experienced at the European Championships in Nottingham, in May."
Sportsbeat 2016
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