IT has been a year since Ollie Turner stood on the start line of a World Triathlon race, but last week the Jersey star battled jet lag and fatigue to produce a strong 16th place finish in a stacked field in Wuxi, China.
Despite the disappointment of triathlon being axed from the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Turner is continuing his training and testing his abilities around the world.
Competing in the Elite Men category in his penultimate race of 2024, the 26-year-old faced some world-class opposition from all over the world, from local Chinese athletes to competitors from as far as Uzbekistan or Canada.
“The race was amazing, it was incredible to get back on the World Triathlon stage,” said Turner.
“It was organised like a proper World Series event, which is just a pleasure to be a part of and really exciting to get to compete in.
“I was struggling a bit from jet lag and the change in time zone, but I feel I performed really well.”
Turner set off as part of the 58-strong field into the first section of the race, the 750m swim, from a pontoon start in the inland lake.
Traditionally a challenging part of shorter distance triathlon, all athletes set off together, causing clusters in the water and separating the stronger swimmers from the rest.
“I had a fantastic start coming out of the swim in sixth place, that really boosted my confidence and set me up well going into the first transition,” Turner continued.
Coming into the bike, a traditionally strong discipline for the Jerseyman, Turner joined a small group and broke away from the pack early.
“A group of six of us managed to create a bit of daylight on the bike early.
“We opened that gap up to about 30 seconds, which is a nice cushion to have in the shorter distance races.
“We all fully committed to the break away as, usually, it’s high risk high reward in these scenarios.”
However, Turner knew he had elite athletes chasing him, particularly those from the Russian contingent, racing under the AIN flag, which stands for Athlètes Individuels Neutres (Individual Neutral Athletes).
This name was used to represent approved Russian and Belarusian athletes at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Turner continued: “Unfortunately, a large Russian contingent meant there was large fire power in the chasing group.
“We got caught at the 17km mark of the 20km course of the bike and I ended up coming off the bike in 19th place before starting the run.”
In such high intensity races, it can be easy to gas out early, which Turner admits he was close to doing on the bike.
Heading into the run, Turner returned a 5km run time of 16 minutes 26 seconds, a very impressive score to the casual athlete, but a massive 80-seconds off the quickest time in this Elite Men race.
“I’d already emptied my bank, maybe even gone into my over draft on the bike and my run was sub par.
“I managed to hold on for a top 16 finish, which in the end I was satisfied with. In for a penny in for a pound I guess.
“There’s always lots of learnings to take away from these events and to get to travel to China and compete in competitions like this with outstanding athletes in the field is what it’s all about.
“I get to crack the whip one last time for 2024 next weekend in Malaysia and I’ll give it everything I have.
“I’ve been training incredibly hard and I know it’ll pay off eventually and when it does, it’ll be so worth it.”
Results:
Swim 750m: 9m 26s (8th)
Bike 20km: 28m 23s (19th)
Run 5km: 16m 26s (26th)
Overall Placing: 16th
