“You could say that we are the Fab Four,” laughs Vicky Holland, her smile as warm as the late spring sun. “There’s just one problem: only three of us will make it to Rio.”
Holland, who shocked most people – if not herself – by winning the first World Triathlon Series race of her career at the age of 29 in Cape Town last month, is talking fondly about her fellow British triathletes Helen Jenkins, the world No1 in 2011; Non Stanford, who topped the rankings in 2013; and Jodie Stimpson, the Commonwealth champion. All are potential podium contenders for next year’s Olympics. But first they have to get there.
“It is such a great and a bad position to be in,” says Holland, who will line up in the London leg of the World Triathlon Series in Hyde Park on Sunday. “All of us are friends. All of us want each other to do well. All of us have been very supportive of each other with our various injuries. I live with Non, and I’m in regular contact with Helen and Jodie. But we all know one of us is going to end up horribly disappointed.”
The sorting-out process formally begins at the Rio test event in August and then at the grand final in Chicago in September. All four women know that if they make the podium at both events – a mighty ask given all the world’s best triathletes will be there – they will automatically qualify for the 2016 Olympics. Otherwise it will be up to the selectors, who will make their decision based on form over the next year. London, therefore, represents a important opportunity to attract their eye.
Holland, who was selected for 2012 Olympics as a domestique for Jenkins, believes her move to Leeds 18 months ago to train with Stanford has given her a live shot. “For the first six to nine months in Yorkshire, I don’t think I properly adjusted,” she says, laughing. “It’s hard training here. There’s a lot more volume than I had ever before. And I just existed. I got by but I didn’t really improve. And then my body got used to it, adapted, and I started to see the results.”
Holland won individual bronze behind Stimpson at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last year and helped the mixed relay team win gold, but felt a further breakthrough was on its way last summer before a plantar fasciitis, or heel, injury kept her out for several months until Cape Town – a race she entered initially as a fitness test but ended up winning.
Now, though, her sole focus is on Hyde Park – where she will race Stanford for the first time since they moved in together. “There hasn’t been any trash talk,” she laughs. “Non is an incredible athlete and our friendship is strong enough to hold whatever happens. The ultimate dream that we both make it to Rio and have great races there. That is absolutely what we both want.”
The woman they have to beat is the American Gwen Jorgensen, who stormed away to the world title last year and leads this year’s series too. “I have raced her many times before but not when I’ve been in this kind of shape,” says Holland. “That said, she is a level ahead of everyone in the world at the moment. Her run speed is phenomenal and she is setting the bar. But there are ways that you can beat her, especially when there are hard or technical bike stages. London is probably not the course for that. But later in the year, and especially when we race in the Rio test event, we are all hoping to break the spell.”
