With cold and rainy conditions in Glasgow for the 2018 European Championships, some legends of the sport as well as some of the rising stars of triathlon are getting ready to compete. Let’s hear what they said 24 hours before the races.
On being part of the French mixed relay team that won the world championships in Hamburg: “We have good cohesion and all understand each other very well. We’re hoping for a good race. We’re looking for a European title as we have the world title. The objective is to win the title in the relay.”
On the course: “It’s true that it was quite cold - British weather. It’s quite a hard course for the bike, so we’ll see what that will mean during the race.”
On whether she can win a medal: “Last year I managed a top-10 finish, so of course I’d like to do better. We’ll see what happens. If the race goes well, maybe. We’ll see. I don’t know, it depends on each race.”
On her chances for this race: “It’s definitely a goal to try to win a medal. I love racing European championships. It’s hard to say why, but I was always doing well at Europeans and I always like to go to Europeans.”
On the European Championships: “I am very motivated. The European Championships are important and the media attention is high. I want to look for my season’s best.”
On being the 2017 European sprint triathlon champion: “Last year it was a different race, now my focus is on the Olympic distance to prepare for the Olympics. A medal is my goal here at Glasgow 2018.”
On her strongest opponents: “I have much respect for Cassandre and Nicola Spirig is always good and fast.”
On the course here in Glasgow: “The harder the course in general, the better I enjoy it”.
On his rivals for this Friday: “It’s good to be back. When most people get racing, it doesn’t matter so much what the conditions are like. You just get on with it and race as hard as you can. I’ll try to do as best as I can, and I expect challenges from the likes of Fernando Alarza and Pierre Le Corre”.
Fernando Alarza
On his goals for the Glasgow 2018 European Championships: “I fully recovered from my injury at the achilles tendon but I lost two months of training. I have a good season so far and had a good performance in Edmonton so if I am physically well and do a good run, I can take gold.”
On his strongest opponents: “Joao Silva from Portugal is not in his best year but his run is very strong so he can do a good race. If Alistair Brownlee is here, he’s certainly a favourite but all of us want to win.”
Pierre Le Corre
On his season so far: “I had a good start of the season. I am seventh in the world ranking at the moment. I wanted to have my first peak in Leeds. After that, I won gold at the world military championships in Sweden.”
On preparing for Glasgow: “After Hamburg, I felt I was not in shape and decided to go to a three-week training camp at altitude in the Pyrenees.”
On his expectations for this race: “I will try to make the podium despite the strong field led by Olympic gold medallist Ali Brownlee. In the mixed relay gold is our goal but the event is exciting because anything can happen.”
On his hopes of improving on last year’s European bronze medal: “Every year is a different year, this is a different race and the field here is very competitive. I am well prepared and I will go for the best possible position.”
On preparing for the European Championships: “This year I had to stop training for four months due to pericarditis. It was hard and I didn’t do anything. When I received the green light from the doctors, I was just super happy to go training again.”
On the Portuguese team’s expectations for the mixed relay event on Saturday: “It will be our second time competing in the relay after Edmonton Mixed Relay Series and we are in a learning curve. We have two experienced athletes in the team which makes the race interesting so we have good chances for a good place on Saturday.”
