The World Triathlon Podcast

As we begin the countdown to the start of a new World Triathlon season, it's time to catch up with a few of the faces set to be breaking through in 2022. In the first of a series of ones-to-watch specials, the USA's Chase McQueen and French U23 World Champion Emma Lombardi give us the lowdown on the very different trajectories of their journeys in the sport so far, including high drama at WTCS Leeds and the art of French Grand Prix racing.

When the women's PTWC wheelchair category was left out of the Para Triathlon programme of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, USA's Kendall Gretsch didn't dwell on what might have been. Instead, she took up Para Nordic Skiing, going on to win gold at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games. After finally getting her shot at triathlon glory at Tokyo 2020 and winning the title in the most dramatic fashion, she is now heading to Beijing and hoping to defend her winter titles for the first time.

The most decorated World Triathlon Champion of all time, Spain's Javier Gomez has left an indelible mark on the sport ever since his first world title at U23 level in 2003. He looks back through those defining career moments and, with new coach Dan Plews, plots a route to his next chapter with one eye firmly on unfinished business in Kona.

Former USAT coach and the man behind Origin Performance, Ian O'Brien joins us on the latest episode, revealing how to achieve a winning mindset and why it is important to become 'comfortable in being uncomfortable' on the journey to the very top of the international sport. We go inside the tactics and hear the tales of what it takes to train the best in the world.

Fresh from her first international gold at the Europe Triathlon Cup Quarteira, Lotte Miller shares her unique insights to the Team Norway set up, from the intimidating early days with Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden to the cusp of an Olympic Mixed Relay slot, the emotional rollercoaster of 2021 and how the 25-year-old has already learned the hard way how to spot the danger signs of burn out.

The boy from Brockley becomes the man in Malibu. Alex Yee's story to delivering the 2021 of his Olympic dreams has taken a long and winding road, but from the moment he took the Series tape for the first time at June's WTCS Leeds, the stage was set for more magic. From Olympic gold and silver to the World Triathlon Championship Series overall podium and wrapped up with some Super League brilliance, that is precisely what he delivered.

He lost his eyesight in Afghanistan 2011, was a London 2012 swimming champion exactly 12 months later and then, after two highly successful Paralympic Games in the pool, made the switch to para triathlon. Having doubted whether he should even try and qualify for the hugely competitive visually impaired start list at Tokyo, it all came together on the day, winning gold with guide Greg Billington to justify the sacrifices he made along the way and plant a seed for a potential Paralympic journey that just may reach all the way to LA 2028.

The new Paralympic Champion in the visually impaired (PTVI) category of para triathlon, the incredible Susana Rodriguez spent 2020 on the front line of Spain's fight against the pandemic, caring for patients while wrestling her burning desire to win the biggest race of them all. She explains the personal battle she fought to ready herself mentally and physically, the incredible importance of the unique blind-athlete-and-guide relationship and the 'emotional and physical bomb' that was competing at Tokyo 2020.

From bronze at London 2012 to silver at Rio 2016, Jonny Brownlee finally scored Olympic triathlon gold at Tokyo 2020 in the inaugural Mixed Relay. He reveals the tactics that went into that success, how it might reevaluate his planned Olympic retirement ahead of Paris and how it was preparing for his first Games experience without brother Alistair.

Netherlands' para triathlon legend Jetze Plat has dominated the PTWC class for the past five years and now heads to Tokyo to defend the Paralympic title he won when the sport debuted at Rio 2016. We caught up with him in February this year at a training camp in Namibia, where he had been invited to join the Dutch Triathlon's Olympic squad preparations for a huge 2021 for the sport. Listen as Plat reveals how he has used his disability to drive his remarkable competitive edge since the age of five.