After making her debut on home soil during the unforgettable London 2012 Games, Holland made history four years later when she became the first British woman to win an Olympic triathlon medal by bagging a brilliant bronze at Rio 2016.

Now the 2018 World Champion is returning to the start line at Tokyo 2020 for the women’s race on Monday 26th July (10.30pm BST) determined to get back on the Olympic podium but not feeling any weight of expectation following her previous achievements.

“I’m looking at one final Olympic Games where I am shooting for the top,” said Holland, who trains at the Team Bath Sports Training Village with the British Triathlon Bath National Performance Centre.

“Whatever I do I will be really proud of the fact I’m going to be a three-time Olympian. I will always have an Olympic medal, no matter what happens, and that is something I will take great pride in.

“Being an Olympian was something I dreamed of from when I was six years old and I watched the Barcelona Games. I remember seeing these incredible athletes win gold medals for Great Britain and thinking that I wanted to go to an Olympics and achieve something.

“I didn’t know what sport I would end up doing or how long it would take me to get there but I first achieved that goal in London at a home Games. That was the most special experience I will probably ever have in my life, to be part of that home team witnessing what I think are some of our greatest moments as a nation – all supporting one another, coming together as a country, it was just the most unbelievable two weeks.

“To go again in Rio but this time knowing I was a medal contender and deliver on that was a completely different but equally special experience.

“Being a two-time Olympian and having won a medal in Rio really helps me going into another major Games, just from understanding the pressure and circus that goes around the Olympics and to understand how to build my training up to that one day. Having said that, this year’s Olympics are going to have a different feel to them with different restrictions so it will be a whole new experience again.”

Also competing in the women’s race in Tokyo is Canada’s Joanna Brown, who was a training partner of Holland at the University of Bath before returning to her home country at the start of the pandemic.

Holland, coached by Rhys Davey, could also compete in the mixed team relay, a new addition to the Olympic triathlon timetable which is taking place on Friday 30th July (11.30pm BST).

Visit teambath.com/triathlon to find out more about the triathlon programme at the University of Bath.

Courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.

The Rio 2016 bronze-medallist, who has already been named in the Team GB squad for this summer’s Games, would normally spend some of the cold, dark months on warm-weather camps overseas and competing abroad but the global pandemic has forced her and coach Rhys Davey to adjust their plans.

Instead they have been working solidly at the Team Bath Sports Training Village – home to British Triathlon’s regional National Performance Centre – for the past ten months, making the most of the multi-sport facilities and working alongside other aspiring Olympians to hone their preparations.

“To be here in the position I am with 100 days to go, I think I’ve done really well,” said Holland, who was ITU World Champion in 2018. “I actually think it has gone about as well as it could have done so far. I know I have done my biggest-ever and most consistent winter training block, all of it, every single second, in the UK.

“It has been a little challenging, the weather has made it really trying at times and the lack of daylight is a factor for an athlete who spends a huge amount of time outdoors. I’ve had to do a fair bit of my cycling indoors, which is never as fun as being outside, but we’ve adapted to make it work and I’m really pleased with what I’ve been able to do.

“We’ve been really lucky that we’ve had access to the Sports Training Village here in Bath for virtually the entire time the pandemic has been going on. I came back at the end of June and have had access all the way through since then [through the Government’s elite-sport Return to Training protocol].

“I’ve been able to use the swimming pool and the gym the entire time and we’ve just started using the outdoor athletics track again as I make my training more race-specific. Having that access has been invaluable.

“The people who have been able to train at the STV have all been focussed on pretty much the same goal as me – we’re all trying to get to the Olympic Games. I’ve had chance to swim alongside some of the top GB swimmers, when we’ve had different pool allocation times in previous years, and it’s been really inspirational to see them go about their business. It also keeps things fresh, seeing how they do things differently.

“Everyone has been so focussed on the Olympic Games and even though we’ve been thrown some crazy circumstances we are all doing our very best to get on with it and hopefully be in the right shape to take on the world in July.”

Before then, Holland is hoping to put her hard work in training into practice during World Triathlon Championship Series events in Yokohama, Japan, in May and Leeds in June. She has only been able to compete once during the past 13 months, in Germany in September, and is grateful to know her Tokyo place is secured.

“Being pre-selected for the Olympic Games this year has been massive, especially under the stressful circumstances we have found ourselves in,” said Holland, who will be competing at her third Games after London 2012 and Rio 2016.

“Trying to restart racing in mid-May and not knowing whether you have a slot in the team, or even which competitions are going to happen, would have been really difficult. Knowing I have that in my pocket and all I need to do is focus on being the best I can be right at the end of July has been absolutely invaluable to me.”

Visit www.teambath.com/triathlon to find out more about the British Triathlon programme based at the Team Bath Sports Training Village.

Courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.

It will be a third Games for the 34-year-old, who made history at Rio 2016 when she bagged a brilliant bronze to become the first female triathlete to win an Olympic medal for Great Britain.

Shortly after the Games, Holland moved her training base to the Team Bath Sports Training Village – home to the newly-established British Triathlon Bath National Performance Centre – and has gone on to enjoy even more success on the international stage.

She was crowned as the 2018 ITU World Series Champion, just months after winning mixed team relay silver with England at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, and also claimed a bronze medal at the Olympic Games test event in Tokyo.

That latter performance was enough to secure early Team GB selection for Holland – confirmed today along with Georgia Taylor-Brown, Jess Learmonth and Jonny Brownlee – and she is confident she can challenge for another medal when she returns to Japan next summer.

“I’m delighted to have been nominated for a third Olympics next year in Tokyo,” she said. “The Olympic Games has always been the driving force behind my athletic career and to have another opportunity to race on the biggest stage of all is something I do not take for granted.

“To have been selected early, as I was ahead of Rio, affords me the opportunity to prepare for Tokyo to the best of my ability and offers me a little certainty in a very uncertain situation.

“I am going to Tokyo absolutely with the intention of trying to perform at a level that delivers another medal. I wouldn’t still be training and part of this team if I didn’t believe I could do that and want to do that.

“We have made the best plan we possibly can for this winter, with the knowledge that things may change and we’ll have to keep rolling with that, but I feel I am in a good position to deliver next year.”

The British Triathlon Bath National Performance Centre comprises of two performance squads – a High Performance Squad and a BUCS Performance Group for students. The programmes are integrated, offering student athletes the opportunity to train and work alongside elite athletes like Holland.

Led by Head Coach Rhys Davey, with the support of South West Academy Director Blair Cartmell, triathletes train on the indoor and outdoor athletics track at the Sports Training Village, in its Olympic-sized London 2012 Legacy Swimming Pool and in the Team Bath Gym & Fitness Centre. They also use running trails, cycling routes and tracks in and around Bath and Somerset. Find out more about triathlon by visiting teambath.com/triathlon.

Medals have been won by sportspeople based at the Team Bath Sports Training Village at every Olympic Games, summer and winter, for the past 20 years. A number of athletes, judoka, modern pentathletes and swimmers will be bidding to join Holland in securing selection for Tokyo over the coming months – visit teambath.com/Tokyo2020 for more information.

Thanks to the University of Bath Press Office at Matchtight

Vicky Holland comes through transition Photo:(British Triathlon / Wagner Araujo)

The 32 year-old, who trains at the University of Bath as part of the national triathlon centre, finished well clear of USA’s Katie Zaferes, her only rival for the title after a season-long battle from March to September across four continents.

Olympic bronze medallist Holland has never won the world title but her weekend’s silver concluded a consistently successful season in which she won a total of three golds and two silvers individually.

“I can’t actually believe it,” said Holland of her ITU World Series Overall Title. “This season as a whole has been absolutely incredible. It is so much more than I thought I would get out of the year!”.

Part of a strong British contingent on the Gold Coast, Holland started with the best swim of her career and was in a small group of leaders on the bike. However, two motivated groups behind them eventually caught them and by the second transition, there were 27 women in contention at the start of the 10km run.

Zaferes paid for her early pace dropping back dramatically whilst Gentle beat Holland to the gold in the final sprint.   British team-mate Georgia Taylor-Brown finished eighth on the day but third in the world series overall.On that run Holland, who needed to beat Zaferes to win the overall crown, started strongly but was then overhauled by the American and Ashleigh Gentle of Australia who generated a five-second lead. Holland strived to stay in contention and eventually clawed back the gap after two of the four laps.

Holland said: “I thought at one point on the run it was done, it was quite a big gap there but I brought it back in. I knew I couldn’t go with them when they went, I decided to back it off and pace my own run.”

She added: “This season for me had always been about the Commonwealth Games and that was what I was training for. Since that point things have just fallen into pace. I’ve just really enjoyed my racing. When you turn up to a race feeling confident and happy there’s not too much that can go wrong. I really wanted it, and I’m so glad I got it at the end.”

Final Series Standings:

1. Vicky Holland, GBR, 5540
2. Katie Zaferes, USA, 5488
3. Georgia Taylor-Brown, GBR, 4183
4. Kirsten Kasper, USA, 3887
5. Jessica Learmonth, GBR, 3810
6. Ashleigh Gentle, AUS, 3750
7. Jodie Stimpson, GBR, 3658

Grand Final Race Results; 1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run:

1. Ashleigh Gentle, AUS, 1:52:00
2. Vicky Holland, GBR, 1:52:02
3. Katie Zaferes, USA, 1:52:33
4. Georgia Taylor-Brown, GBR, 1:53:31
5. Jodie Stimpson, GBR, 1:53:41
6. Jessica Learmonth, GBR, 1:53:56
7. Non Stanford, GBR, 1:53:56
8. Sophie Coldwell, GBR, 1:56:32

Courtesy of  British Triathlon via Team Bath

It will be a second Commonwealth Games for Holland, who moved her training base to the Sports Training Village after winning bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

She won the first major individual medal of her career at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, a bronze in the women’s race, and followed that up with gold in the mixed triathlon team relay with the Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonathan, and Jodie Stimpson.

The Brownlees will once again join Holland in the Team England squad heading to the Gold Coast in April, along with Tom Bishop, Joe Townsend, Mark Conway, Jade Jones, Lizzie Tench, Sophie Coldwell and Jess Learmonth.

Two-time World Mixed Team Champion Holland, coached by Rhys Davey, secured Commonwealths qualification by medalling at the Olympic Games and placing fifth at May’s Yokohama World Series in Japan. That was her only international competition of 2017 due to a calf injury but she has recently returned to full training.

Today’s news takes the number of University of Bath-based athletes officially selected for the Gold Coast 2018 Games up to eight.

Sports Performance student Cameron Chalmers, supported by a Trendell Sports Scholarship, will represent Guernsey in athletics while MJ Church ambassador David King, World and Olympic medallist Emily Diamond and emerging high-jump talent Tom Gale are all in the England squad.

British Swimming National Centre Bath trio James Guy, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor and Andrew Willis have also been selected for England, with more University-based swimmers hoping to set the qualification standard when the Swim England National Winter Championships take place in Sheffield from December 13-17.

Report courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.