Carolyn Hayes has taken a massive step towards qualification for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games after the best Irish female performance in triathlon in almost a decade.
Hayes finished 2nd at today’s World Cup triathlon in Lisbon, Portugal behind double Olympic medalist Nicola Spirig of Switzerland.
With just a handful of races left in the qualifying period, the result all but guarantees the Limerick athlete’s participation at Tokyo 2021.
The 33 year old took the lead as the field transitioned from the 40km bike leg to 10km run and only relinquished 1st place in the closing 1,500m.
She said afterwards that she was thrilled with the result “I have worked really hard like everyone throughout the last year and half, I am very confident on the bike so knew if I stayed and it came down to a running race that I would be ok. I think everyone is racing thinking ‘I want to go to the Olympics’ so you just have to keep digging in and I was just so determined…”
In what must also be a first on a global triathlon broadcast, Hayes went on to speak in Irish to the World Triathlon feed, thanking her supporters, her family and her coaching team and saying she was so proud to wear the green of Ireland. She added that she hopes to make it to Tokyo.
Also racing today were Chloe Pollard and Maeve Gallagher who finished 40th and 42nd respectively.
How the Race Unfolded
Hayes came out of the water following an extremely rough and choppy 1,500m swim in the second group, trailing fellow Irish athlete Chloe Pollard – who was the third fastest swimmer of the day – by approximately one minute. Once on the 40km bike, Hayes’s group worked well together and bridged the gap to the leaders.
Hayes revealed that once they had caught the leaders on the bike, her plan was to stay in that pack and conserve her energy for the run.
Hayes completed a textbook dismount from the bike, flew through transition in the quickest time of the day of 22seconds and went out on to the 10km run in first place.
From there she never looked back, putting out a blistering run leg that saw her go almost 20secs clear of the field at one stage.
The only athlete able to stay in touch with Hayes was Olympic silver and gold medalist Nicola Spirig. Eventually the Swiss legend managed to pass Hayes but the determined Limerick woman didn’t allow her pull clear and ran shoulder to shoulder with Spirig for the closing kilometres.
It was only in the closing stages and following a series of surges that Spirig managed to pull clear.
She went on to win in a time of 1hr 59mins 05secs with Hayes crossing the line in second just 12seconds later.
When asked about her strategy on the run, Hayes said she was determined not to give any ground, despite the quality of the field.
“Just keep running, don’t look back. I’ve worked hard all winter on my run so I am very confident, I wanted to test myself and I am really pleased that it was only in the last kilometre that I had company, this gives me confidence going forward to hopefully it’s enough to get a ticket to Tokyo.”
With just four races left to go before the Olympic qualifying period for triathlon closes, Triathlon Ireland’s Performance Director Stephen Delaney said the result all but guarantees Hayes’s place in Tokyo. “Today’s performance makes it really difficult for anyone else who’s chasing Carolyn. Anybody who wants it now, has to go out and outperform what Carolyn did today.”