The pandemic has made me realise sport is not what is most important this year

together these days but I can go to his house and use his Endless Pool for training. You swim on the spot against a current, and I am using it daily.

Before the recent easing of measures, it had been the longest I had gone without swimming since I was ten.

I managed to keep a routine of sorts. I have converted a room at my house into a gym but for the first time in years I have not had an immediate goal, or any idea when we will race next.

However, it has been quite nice to train just for fun and it has made me realise how much I do just love training anyway, and being outside in the nice weather we’ve been having.

I don’t necessarily need a goal to focus on but I am used to having one and the stress that comes with building towards a race.

Before lockdown, my brother and I had both been in a good place and another year before Tokyo will not be a bad thing. I was all set to go and try to win that elusive gold but the pandemic has since made me realise sport is not what is most important this year.

And just last week we would have had 6,000 primary-school children doing a mini-triathlon with our Brownlee Foundation, although of course sadly that had to be cancelled.

Al and I have a strong family connection with the NHS. My girlfriend works at Harrogate Hospital as a physiotherapist, our dad was a paediatrician and mum was a GP before retiring recently. She is volunteering to help as much as she can.

I remember seeing my dad on call growing up and, as much as sport is so important to the lives of me and Al, health is the most important thing – especially right now.

The NHS is doing an incredible job, as it always has done. We can all get caught up in our own little worlds, none more so than us as athletes, but this has been a reality check for all of us.

So, I’ve got no problem waiting a year for the Olympics and I aim to start 2021 as if it was 2020.