Africa Triathlon

Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) is heading into unknown territory, racing for the first time this season after a delayed start due to an ankle injury, the London Olympic Games bronze medallist will make a belated entry to the season in Yokohama tomorrow.

“I feel surprisingly good after the travel, this is the first time I have dropped in to a race this late and I am not really sure how I will feel but I feel okay now. When you know you have a race coming up your body feels completely different anyway. I am really looking forward to racing, it has been awhile without racing now so I have the bug to start racing again.

“The ankle itself is fine now, there is nothing wrong with it all, I have not felt any problems with any injury for the best part of five weeks. Obviously I haven’t been training properly or as well as I would like to train but then I have kind of thought that a bit of a break is quite good for me after the Olympics and such a long year, but we will see. For this race I am not in tip top condition but I doubt many of us are.

“I am going into this completely blind, I have never done this before, I am used to having six months of complete and perfect training before my first race. If anything it is quite interesting.”

When asked about his plans for the race, Jonny said they don’t really change from one race to the next.

“Not really, I like to be flexible, that is my main aim going into any race. From what I have heard, the swim is crucial, you get on the bike and it is technical but it is harder than people make it out to be, just because there aren’t any hills doesn’t mean it is going to be an easy bike. The corners can make it interesting. A big pack is not going to be able to go through the tight corners and tight roads. I will just do what I normally do and make it as hard as possible and see.”

And that usually means his opponents are in for a little pain along the way. But with a field that includes two times defending champion Joao Silva (POR) and London silver medallist Javier Gomez (ESP) to name just two, this promises to be one heck of a race in Yokohama tomorrow.

The elite women will race at 8:00am on Saturday morning Japan time, while the men’s race gets underway at 11:00am, also on Saturday. Sunday will see age group and Paratriathlon events take centre stage.

Be sure to follow all the action live through the ITU’s live video stream on www.triathlon.org/tv or follow via Twitter at @triathlonlive.