In what might be one of the more successful detours in triathlon history, Sophie Coldwell logged her best ever WTCS finish on her way to a silver medal in Abu Dhabi.
“I only raced it because I was on the way back from Australia and it was on the way,” explained Coldwell. The decision to stop in Abu Dhabi was taken only about six weeks before the event.
Along with members of the Loughborough training group, including Abu Dhabi winner Alex Yee, Coldwell had been on a warm weather training camp on the Gold Coast.
The camp had been quite skills-heavy, particularly with regards to open water swimming.
As such, “the reason to race was to put some of those skills into practice in a race situation.”
In addition, Abu Dhabi offered a fail-safe for later in the year. “If I could have achieved a top-10 I could have gotten some points just in case something later in the year didn’t pan out,” said Coldwell.
Attending the race therefore made sense. The result was altogether more surprising for her.
The aspect of racing skills came to prominence when Coldwell was issued the first penalty of her career. The officials flagged her for an early start to the swim.
“I dived in and I thought ‘that was close’. And I’ve seen some footage back from it and when the bang goes my feet are still on the pontoon.”
As a result, a couple of members of British Triathlon staff have gone back to World Triathlon for clarification on what the determining factor is for a false start. In swimming, a wobble on the block is a disqualification.
However, the pontoon is not stable as it rests on water so movement would be a harsh penalty. With video footage showing Coldwell’s feet on the pontoon, the penalty appears a little murky in hindsight.
With her fast start (irrespective of any potential early start), Coldwell led throughout the swim. Once she arrived in T1 to take her penalty, she did not panic.
“I was out at the front and I knew I had stretched it out quite a lot.”
She therefore had 10 seconds to compose herself and mentally prepare for the bike. Furthermore as a no pressure event it was easier to remain calm.
“Every athlete cares about their performance but I hadn’t gone into the race caring about the result.”
“Hopefully it’s the last penalty of my career!” she added.
Coldwell seldom comes across as panicked in races and often appears controlled. Even amidst a hectic autumn last year in which she raced three Olympic distance WTCS events around planning (and attending) her own wedding, she showed no signs of wilting.
“We knew we both had a busy race schedule and I think because of that we were quite relaxed about planning the wedding.”
In Abu Dhabi, then, Coldwell simply focused on what she had to do to make the breakaway. Given her advantage out of the water, that was not a problem.
While in Australia, Coldwell had raced a series of criteriums, although the bike was not a particular focus of the camp. The racing was simply a training opportunity. Moreover it was not until the last criterium that she felt good on the bike.
Her bike strength told, though, as she was regularly on the front of the group in Abu Dhabi.
The breakaway of six worked well together, albeit with some athletes taking bigger turns, and Coldwell praised how everyone rode through to the front when necessary to keep the wheel turning.
Coldwell’s strength on the bike has been known for some time, particularly since her maiden WTCS medal in Leeds in 2021. Two more bronze medals followed that first in Leeds.
Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, was her first WTCS silver medal.
Her success coincides with a changing of the guard in British triathlon. World champions Vicky Holland and Non Stanford have left the sport (although Holland’s break has been for maternity and she may yet return). Similarly, former WTCS race winner Jodie Stimpson has moved on to the long distance scene.
That has catapulted Sophie Coldwell and her peer Georgia Taylor-Brown to the forefront of the British team. On the one hand, “it was a bit strange to be the senior members”.
There is a degree to which that sensation is heightened given that Coldwell and Taylor-Brown’s friendship dates back well over a decade into their teenage years.
While they train in different performance centres, they have nonetheless enjoyed one another’s company at training camps and racing for years.
“We’ve always had each other’s back in racing. When you go to races or a training camp and there’s someone there you’ve known for such a long time, it takes a lot of the stress out.”
Coldwell noted that Taylor-Brown has perhaps enjoyed some sharper highs with her world title and Olympic medals and lows through injury. By contrast, she said her own rise has been a little more “steady”. What does appear to be clear, though, is that Coldwell’s rise is continuing.
With technical skill and strength across all disciplines, she is practically the perfect athlete for the current iteration of women’s WTCS racing. Her long-time friend Taylor-Brown may have Olympic medals but Coldwell is trending in exactly the right direction to win her own in Paris next year.
With a fast start to the season in more ways than one under her belt, expect to see Sophie Coldwell at the business end of racing throughout 2023.
