Europe Triathlon

Friday and Saturday mornings saw the first two days of training and familiarisation from the Tokyo 2020 Odaiba Bay Olympic Triathlon course. We caught up with some of the athletes and coaches looking to deliver some magic over the coming week. For how to watch the Olympic triathlon, click here.

Tyler Mislawchuk
Canadian no.1 and 2019 Tokyo Test Event winner
“Im not a morning person so i’m getting used to the early morning rhythm and alarms this week but hey, I can sleep the rest of the year. The village has been fantastic, the Japanese, the IOC, World Triathlon everyone has done an amazing job, it’s fantastic to be here and pretty surreal. Until we got here you couldn’t be totally sure it was going to go off so it’s nice, I can tell you that. It’s a bit different to the Test Event, it all feels a bit bigger, but let’s see if we can bring back some 2019 vibes.”

Arild Tveiten
Norway Triathlon Head Coach
“At this point we just want to keep everyone calm, we are confident we have done all the training we could do the best way we could, so now we just want the athletes to relax down a little bit, trust in the work we have done and do a good last preparation with no stress. We are in the village since Thursday and it’s been a big contrast to our preparation in Miyazaki, where we had a big apartment each and now the whole team and coaches are together in one, so we are in it together. We have been on the road for almost seven months now, this team started the camp in the middle of January so we are all very close. The final days of training are up to the athletes. We are there for them to support, but the important work has been done, now it is just the fine adjustments. The athletes know best how to fine-tune their bodies to the top performance on race day. The strategic plan back when I started was for medals in this Olympics, now it’s down to the last preparation and try to enjoy the moment.”

Niina Kishimoto
Japan’s rising star
“I just really appreciate being selected and I will try and finish as well as possible. I’ve been training at altitude in the mountains and used to the heat and humidity in Chiba. I’m from Yokohama so used to the heat but I still feel the heat and go somewhere cooler for the summer. I was training with Ai Ueda who is a phenomenal runner and biker and working with her and learning from her was great. Now, the feeling is pure excitement for Tuesday’s race, this is my first time on the venue itself and even though I watched from the side at the Test Event it feels special to be racing on it.”

Basmla Eslalamoney
Egypt’s first Olympic triathlete
“It’s getting close now, I’m feeling good but It’s definitely starting to feel like race week! The excitement increases but you also focus more, so you need to prepare the mind to deal with whatever may happen in the race. I just want to get in a good position in the swim so it puts me in the spot to produce my best race. I hope the pontoon number is good to put me alongside some strong swimmers too.”

John Farra
USA Triathlon High Performance General Manager
“Ever since we arrived there has been more calm than nerves. The nerves were about how we would get here and what it would like, being here at the venue finally yesterday was actually the most peaceful day for us, our athletes are relaxed and we’re just excited. The only thing that matters is that these athletes jump in the water and finally get to have this race. There are some little details around the course that they’ve noticed differ from the Test Event and we’ve been focussed on the micro details - whether a turn is a bit wider or the road surface is slightly different. We have an incredible bunch of athletes who are totally prepared and if they’ve done that well they will find a good race on the day and we are ready to support them.”

Diego Moya
Chile’s Olympic debutant and ASICS World Triathlon team member
“It’s been really good in the village seeing all the athletes, the atmosphere is great, and i’m up on the 18th floor with the rest of the Chile Team. I’m going to set out my days as they will be before the race, waking up before 4am, focus on the Monday’s start time. You can sense a little anxious tension before the race, I’m just here enjoying it. I wasn’t at the Test Event so this is my first time seeing the venue and I’m feeling pretty cool, i’m one of the youngest here, no pressure, just great to see it all set up. It’s my first swim with this kind of (longer first lap) set up but I’ve been preparing fully for it, I want to start strong and be on that first pack and then see on the run how it goes. Excellent swim, really good bike and then enjoy the rest of the race.