NEWS

Rio Olympics: Spanish triathletes chat

By Olalla Cernuda | 14 Aug, 2016

With only very few days to go before the Olympic action starts, most of the Spanish Triathlon team gathered at the Olympic Village in Rio to talk about their expectations for the race. The men will take the stage on August 18th, while the Women’s race is on the 20th.

Mario Mola
Preparations for the Games
“These last weeks went really well, I finished training in high altitude and then I did some training at sea level to be ready for Rio. Now it’s time to see if all the training was really perfect. I have to give everything I have and fight for those medals.”

About Gomez being out of the Games
“Javi is not here, and that’s a pity. But we keep on working the same. Javi is so good, so brilliant, that he made us think that what he does is easy and we actually believed it, so we are doing it. We’ll try to do the best we can and then the race will decide.”

About his rivals
“This is Olympics, and everyone is here to win a medal. We are 55 on the start line and we all really want to be on the podium. This is a one-day race and there were surprises in other Olympic races. We all know who the favorites are, but there sure can be surprises. The top elite triathletes will be closely watched during the race, and that could end up in ‘outsiders’ surprising all.”

About the strategy for the race
“The bike is really demanding, and this one is going to be more a survival race than a strategy race.  I don’t think we’re going to see stratospheric running here. We all will have the same circuit, with the same ramps, waves, and weather conditions. With Javi, we always thought that there’s no place for team strategies in those races, we can’t deny anyone to try their best and do the best race he can. And I still believe so. Any of us three can be on the podium. I think we can’t allow the race to break at some point and loose the pack. Then on the last 10k, it’s going to be up to everyone of us to bring your best and go for it.”

Fernando Alarza
Preparations for the Games
“Training has been pretty good and effective, we’ve worked really hard to get here in the best shape. I’m currently second on the WTS rankings, and that’s good, but this is a one-day race, and we’ll have to be very smart and strong. I really hope I will perform well.”

About the rivals
If we manage to control the Brownlees and how they will try to dominate the race from the beginning, we can make it. They are going to try to get out of the water first and push a lot on the bike course, and they are, both, willing to win here. It’s going to be a tough race.  We have to have our own strategy and make them not so comfortable during the bike course.

About the strategy
The swimming is going to be really, really hard. This is more an open sea swimming than in some other races, but with the waves, this swimming will be hard to handle. The bike course has a hill at the beginning of each loop that is really hard. So this is not going to be a race with a super fast running, because we are all going to be exhausted after the swim and bike. We’ve done really well on the rankings doing each one of us our own races, but if any of us three is out of the race and can help the others to be on the top positions, there’s no doubt we would do it.  The three of us can do really well in Rio. Great Britain is bringing someone to work for them, but they did the same in London 2012 and the Brownlees never needed him, they are good enough themselves.  We do have a team who can beat them, and we can also fight, as individuals, each one of us, to be on the Olympic podium.

Vicente Hernández
On his training
“Training was really good, I’ve been training in Galicia so weather conditions are pretty similar to those here. I’m really happy to be here, and my goal is to do my race, do the best that I can and try to get an Olympic medal.” 

Carolina Routier
“Training has been very good, I feel very good and very confident. I’m in great form right now so I really hope that I can make my race and do the best. My goal is to finish among the best 20 triathletes.

About her rivals
“If anyone wants to beat Gwen Jorgersen, she’s gonna have to do it on the bike course, and this is a circuit that offers that possibility. It’s a very hard one. Flora Duffy is very strong, as are Andrea Hewitt and Helen Jenkins. If they work together on the bikes, as they did in Gold Coast, they can really threaten the American.”