‘Brownlees have target on their backs and we want to take them down a peg’
L Sheldon relishes prospect of facing champion brothers
The Brownlee brothers have raised the profile of triathlon. They also raised the standards rivals have to meet to have a hope of bettering them
That is acknowledged by the likes of Grant Sheldon, who will face up to the pair when they swap Great Britain colours to represent their own home nations at next year’s Commonwealth Games. Aliistair and Jonny will fly the flag for England, while Sheldon wants to prove that there is plenty of triathlon talent north of the border as well.
“There’s always a little bit of a rivalry,” said the World University Triathlon champion. “I don’t know how much they’ll be looking at us but I’m pretty sure we’ll be looking at them to beat them and bring them down a peg.
“They are the reigning Olympic champions, first and second and any races they do, particularly Alistair, he somehow wins. Does he look as fit as he was? I don’t know. But they’ve got the credentials so they’ve got a target on their back.
“They’ve got a set way of racing. They’re going to swim hard, going to push the bike and more and more, I think, trying to not make it a running race, although obviously there are fantastic runners.
“So when one of them is in there, you know it’s going to be pushed like that, when there’s two of them, then you definitely know that the two of them will push like that.”
There is a maturity to the way that the 23-year-old analyses the threat posed by the highachieving brothers but he is not daunted. Having raced at Glasgow 2014, Sheldon says he learned valuable lessons from that experience and is now better placed to put on a show that he hopes will garner him a podium finish.
“I think a medal is more than realistic. You’ve got the Brownlees, but you’ve got a number of other athletes who will all be wanting to medal and win that race so you’ve got to watch them all.”
A former swimmer, since turning to triathlon as a junior in 2011, Sheldon has had to reassess his strengths and weaknesses. He says running is now his forte and he used time out injured to win Scottish National titles at 5,000m and 10,000m. Sheldon said: “It was OK but it wasn’t anything too special, time-wise. I came off my bike a few months ago and broke my arm which cut my triathlon season short so I just wanted to focus on something. I love running. Running’s probably my favourite out of the three so I thought I’d change focus and try to get some run races.
“I did 5k, I even did a couple of 1500m, which were very very short and I was out of my comfort zone. But I managed to pick up 5,000 and 10,000m Scottish titles which is awesome.” Added to his swimming prowess, he believes that he can now pull it all together when it counts.
“Swimming’s been a tricky one. I came into the sport always at the front of races swimming-wise, but I think when you start on bike training, run training, your body changes and I’ve found it quite difficult as I’ve progressed into senior to keep my swimming at that level. Last year I made some big improvements in swimming.
“But I didn’t really get chance to race much with falling off my bike a couple of times but I think it’s there.”
After disappointment in Glasgow, he at least knows that his preparation will be better suited to success.
“It was a weird year, 2014. I’d just come out of the junior ranks where I medalled at the World Juniors and got on the podium at the first World Cup and then I did my first WTS races and I was fighting around for that top ten. So going into the 2014 Games, I set myself quite high expectations and, on the day, I felt absolutely horrendous.
“I think I really over-cooked it going into it. I was training out of my skin for two or three weeks before it and I picked up a little niggle and a couple of little things like that got in the way.
“I was young and a little bit naïve. I definitely know how to prepare myself better now.”