What to do if you mess up your sighting race-day

Are you all at sea when it comes to swim sighting? We share three key tips to help you get it right for race day, and make sure you don’t end up heading in the wrong direction.

Once you’ve become comfortable with all three tips, you should be able to follow the correct course without losing race position, correct yourself when needed, and – as a last resort – take a breather without stopping.

Step one

Looking forward while taking a breath is a tricky balancing act. Keep head up enough to see fully, but low enough to keep the lowest eye socket only just above the water line.

Step two

When a wave, fellow competitor or sunshine causes mis-sighting, press more firmly below your body with one hand while lifting the head fully out of the water. The legs will drop, though, which increases drag, so use sparingly.

Step three

If all else fails, using the odd bit of breaststroke will give you a higher vantage point to spot your sighting point, breathe and change muscle use. It may slow you down but at least you can restart in the right direction.

(All images: Jonny Gawler)

For lots more performance advice head to our Training section

220 Triathlon Team Journalists, reviewers, coaches and athletes

About

The 220 Triathlon team is made up of vastly experienced athletes, sports journalists, kit reviewers and coaches. In short, what we don't know about multisport frankly isn't worth knowing! Saying that, we love expanding our sporting knowledge and increasing our expertise in this phenomenal sport.