Former world triathlon champion Non Stanford is determined to take it slow and steady on the road to Rio.
Stanford was this week confirmed in a powerful Team GB women’s triathlon squad, alongside another former world champion, Helen Jenkins, and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Vicky Holland.
Jenkins sits out of this weekend’s World Triathlon Series race in Leeds and despite being not 100 percent, Stanford is still keen to give home fans something to cheer about so they can give her the perfect send-off.
“Obviously the season is all about Rio and the Olympics,” she said. “No-one is in peak condition yet and no-one wants to be in peak condition yet either.
“This is a big race in the build-up to the Games and it will be really special for us because we all train here and you want to make that home advantage count.
“We have to remember this is just part of the process of getting to the Games but there’s still no reason why we can’t get on that podium.”
The technical course should lend itself to a breakaway group getting away after the 1500m swim in Roundhay Park on Sunday.
The swim and initial climb out of the first transition should break up the field long before it reaches the city centre to complete a series of technical bike and run laps and finishes in Millennium Square.
American Gwen Jorgensen won the last round in Yokohama but Stanford was victorious before that in Cape Town, an event the reigning world champion skipped.
Bermuda’s Flora Duffy will be another contender, with her consistent results this season meaning she leads the overall standings heading into the fifth race of the year.
Meanwhile, London 2012 Olympian Lucy Hall, Jess Learmonth and Commonwealth champion Jodie Stimpson complete the five-strong British women’s team in Leeds.
“Gwen is obviously the hot favourite for gold in Rio this year and then there’s Flora Duffy who has been doing very well this year,” adds Stanford.
“We are not going to be short of any tough competition.”
Holland is also cautious about her chances in Leeds this weekend, with Rio her focus. There will be no team orders in Brazil with the strong British trio racing not together but for themselves as they seek to win Team GB’s first-ever women’s triathlon medal.
Four years ago Holland and Hall played a supporting role to Jenkins but London 2012 proved a tough race. She crashed on the bike leg and finished 26th, while Jenkins came home just outside the medals in fifth.
“I wasn’t in London competing to win a medal, I was there trying to assist Helen’s medal winning chances and I was always very aware of that,” said Holland.
“26 was a number but it could have been 40, 15, eight, it wouldn’t have mattered, the idea was to try to win a medal for Helen. This time round it’s very different going there with my own medal-winning ideas.”
Sportsbeat 2016