‘Another fine mess:’ Why British Triathlon needs to rethink its Olympic selection policy

The British Triathlon selection policy for the Olympics is fiendishly intricate to try to minimise the chance of sending the ‘wrong’ athletes to the Games (i.e. leaving a potential medal winner at home).

What that meant for Paris was that if athletes hadn’t automatically qualified by last autumn, it would be a discretionary decision.

Sure, certain races would factor higher and there’s a long list of criteria outlining the preferred credentials, but it was in the hands of the three-man selection panel.

British Triathlon performance director Mike Cavendish can argue similar policies have worked well in the past. Team GB is the leading Olympic triathlon nation with at least two medals and one gold at every Games since London 2012. The proof is in the podiums.

The medal table may again make a mockery of this next sentence, but for 2024 selection has been a stressful and avoidable mess that risks jeopardising athletes’ preparation.

How things played out

Beth Potter qualified outright in 2023 through wins in the Olympic test event and the WTCS Pontevedra grand final. As a Tokyo individual medallist, Alex Yee’s test event victory sealed his spot.

This gave both triathletes the hard-earned luxury of being able to plan for the next 10 months with just the Olympics in mind. Everyone else had to prove their worth.

When the team announcement came early this morning, Sam Dickinson had been given the nod ahead of triple-Olympic medallist Jonny Brownlee.

The women’s choice was exceptionally tough. Sophie Coldwell won a World Series race in Yokohama, Kate Waugh finished runner-up in the grand final, Georgia Taylor-Brown was returning after serious calf tear but had the best pedigree.

Another selection could have come in October, but instead the WTCS Cagliari race in Sardinia in May, the last chance in the qualification period, was earmarked. Taylor-Brown came sixth, Coldwell was seventh and 10th was Waugh – just 13sec behind.

Now it was really difficult. The panel, including Cavendish, and coaches Glenn Cook and Rick Velati, picked Taylor-Brown and then Waugh over Coldwell. Coldwell appealed.

A fine mess

By the time of Team GB’s celebratory kitting out day only four of the five triathletes were present. The appeal was upheld. Just eight weeks out from the Games, the triathletes were in limbo. 

Elite sport breeds tough characters, but any instruction to just carry on training as normal belies the reality of the situation. The panel made the same selection again.

Hindsight is wonderful, of course, but if Sardinia wasn’t going to be judged as a head-to-head race, why not pick Waugh in October and give her the chance to prepare properly?

Coldwell would then know that she’d have to better Taylor-Brown for the remaining spot.

Time for a rethink?

On one hand Cavendish says he wants athletes to make it impossible for British Triathlon not to nominate them for selection.

On the other, British Triathlon rolls out the toughest selection criteria in the world – one that Potter essentially had to become world champion to achieve. Waugh’s 2023 efforts would also have been good enough for any other nation by a stretch.

The argument that a single-day race, such as the USA track and field criteria, doesn’t work, is that athletes can be injured or it might not replicate the Olympic Games dynamic. But at least the athletes know 100% where they stand, and that certainty is currently being grossly undervalued. 

They’re not robots. The training environment and emotions are more important than the specifics of the sessions.

Let’s hope all the British triathletes put on medal-winning performances in Paris. But if they do, it will be in spite of – not because of – the selection process to get there.

For more build-up to the Olympics, here’s the triathletes that have qualified for Paris 2024 already, and here’s how to watch the three triathlon events at the Games.