British Triathlon's Sophie Coldwell, Olivia Mathias, Claire Cashmore and Dave Ellis reflect on the weekend that was the 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series and World Triathlon Para Series, Leeds.  Sophie took her first WTCS podium with an impressive 3rd place finish, while Olivia crossed the line in 25th on her World Series debut, before watching her boyfriend Alex Yee win the men's race.  Dave clinched gold in the PTV1 race, while his partner Claire took silver behind team mate Lauren Steadman in the PTS5 category as they look towards the Paralympics in Tokyo.  

You'll hear:

07:56 The start of Sophie and Olivia's interview.

09:12 Olivia Mathias talks about her first WTCS experience and how she dealt with the nerves. "I do normally get quite nervous, but I was extremely nervous for this one and before the line up, I was almost crying I was so nervous"

15:15 What did Lucy Charles-Barclay bring to the Leeds WTCS race and what impact did she have on the way the race panned out? "Kudos to Lucy, she brought something else to the race and you never have a long course athlete doing that. She is this freak, who has all of these elements. It was lovely having her around and I'm excited to see what she can do," says Sophie.

30:45 Olivia talks about watching her boyfriend Alex Yee win the men's race. "It's really weird. You see him on the big screen and you can hear people in the crowd talking about him, but I just think 'it's just Alex! He's just a normal person, who collects Pokemon cards! When you are so close, you realise they are just human like everyone else," says Olivia.

38:30 We talk about 'comparison is the thief of joy.' "So many people compare all the time, but you are always going to find someone who can do something better than you or faster than you, but it strips out the joy of what you were so happy with and chuffed about," Sophie says.

42:49 The start of Claire Cashmore and her partner Dave Ellis' interview

47:15 Claire talks about the sprint finish she had with Grace Norman, to take second.

49:35 Dave talks about the mental ups and downs of the last decade, whereby he swam at the Beijing Paralympics, just missed out on qualifying for London 2012, switched to para triathlon but then his category didn't feature at Rio 2016

57:00 How they are preparing for the Paralympics, which will be completely different to previous experiences, due to Covid.

01:10:00 Claire talks about her book, 'Splash' which is aimed at normalising disability for children, increasing representation and encouraging children to believe in themselves. "We all struggle with that lack of self belief, but actually we are more brilliant than we think."

Find out more about this week's guests

Sophie Coldwell Instagram

Olivia Mathias Instagram

Claire Cashmore Instagram

Claire's book 'Splash' on Amazon

Dave Ellis Instagram

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