Back in the saddle
Irish team returns to action with hopes of world glory
“Athletes will arrive in their own bubble”
“Our young stars will get experience”
TRIATHLON Ireland will send its largest team to this weekend’s world championships in Hamburg and performance director Stephen Delaney admits they are ‘taking a step into the unknown’.
A team of seven Irish triathletes will travel to Germany. Con Doherty and Russell White will be competing in the men’s race with Carolyn Hayes, Maeve Gallagher and Erin McConnell taking part in the women’s event, while there will also be a four-person team competing in the mixed relay race on Sunday, selected from those five athletes plus James Edgar and Ian Mathey.
‘We are excited and nervous about this event,’ Delaney explained yesterday as he waited for a Covid-19 swab test ahead of the first international triathlon event since the outbreak of the pandemic in March.
‘It is going to be a strange experience, but we are living in strange times. The briefing with athletes before the event will be done online. The race itself is going to be different. It is taking place in a park that will be closed, no spectators. Athletes will arrive in their own bubble, the space at the pontoon start will be extended. Normally, athletes would be shoulder to shoulder and right behind each other. Now, the only time they will be somewhat together is in the bunch on the bikes,’ Delaney explained.
‘It will be an abnormal experience, but this will be a trial run for how racing will look in the future and possibly in the Olympics next year,’ he said.
The world championship in Hamburg will also be run over a sprint distance, which means athletes will cover a 750-metre swim, 20km bike ride and a 5km run. The reigning world champions, Vincent Luis of France and America’s Katie Zaferes will both take part although, as Delaney points out, no athlete is really aware of their own current form.
‘This is a step into the unknown for every athlete, there is no benchmark and no form guide,’ he said. ‘So, it is very difficult to envisage what might happen in the race and it is going to be very interesting to see how everyone fares, as there has been no racing for months.
‘Everybody will be going to Hamburg hoping that the training they have done during lockdown is going to be good preparation for competition, but training is not racing. Our guys did very well during the lockdown period and they have come out of it, having maintained their fitness level and are in good shape, so we are quietly confident about it.
‘We were fortunate in that most of our athletes had at least one race under their belts before everything stopped in March. But what makes this strange situation even stranger is that the first race after such a long break is the world championships,’ Delaney said. Carolyn Hayes was one of those Irish athletes who already had a race under her belt, claiming a silver medal at the Mauritius African Cup, the last international event before everything closed down in March.
The top-ranked Irish triathlete, she admits that she didn’t expect to race again this year and believes Hamburg will be an important step towards the Olympics, rescheduled for next summer.
‘I am super excited, obviously there’s nerves but they are good nerves. This is my first ever world championships and I am looking forward to lining up against everyone because that’s the level I want to race at. Come the Olympics next year, they are the people I will be competing against,’ said Hayes.
Apart from Hayes and Russell White, who are both sitting in Olympic slots, the championships will also provide vital experience for the likes of Maeve Gallagher and James Edgar, talented younger athletes, who are getting their first taste of elite-level action.
‘It is great that we are taking some of our younger athletes, who are getting to experience this kind of competition, maybe a little sooner than they expected,’ Delaney said. ‘Maeve came 11th in the European juniors last year and James finished third in the European Under 23 championships, so they have plenty of potential and it will be great to see how they get on.’