She’s one of the rising stars of the triathlon world with National, World and European titles to her name. But after a year plagued with illness and upset Hollie Avil discovered the darker side of being an athlete. Now with a new coach and a new city to call home, the 20-year-old is back on track. Sportsister’s Louise Hudson caught up with this superstar in waiting.
“I have realised that it’s the lows that make you a stronger person. Every elite athlete goes through them, and its how you deal with them that makes you the better athlete in the long run. You have to learn from your experiences, that’s what my 2010 season taught me,” Hollie sounds relaxed and positive as she talks about how difficult the last season was for her.
It must have come as quite a shock to this young-gun triathlete, to suddenly start producing disappointing results; as before last year, Hollie’s racing just kept getting better and better.
She had only been competing at triathlon for two years when she had the kind of season most athletes can only dream about. In 2007 she was crowned both the European and World Junior Champion, a year she modestly describes as “pretty special”.
The following year she started competing in senior events, whilst still technically a junior, and came 3rd, 2nd and 4th in her debut World Cups. This ranked her world number one at just 18 years of age; and made her the youngest ever athlete to podium in successive debut World Cup races.
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“I’ve always said that age is just a number,” Hollie states, “and your age should never stop you from doing anything.” She certainly hasn’t let it stop her.
Her strong performances led to her selection for the Beijing Olympics. Finishing fourth at the Madrid World Cup secured this. She tells me, “that was my most memorable moment in triathlon. I’ll never forget that day, knowing that I had qualified, the feeling was just immense.”
But things in China did not go to plan, and after catching a stomach virus that swept through the athlete’s village Hollie was unable to finish her race. She completed the 1500 metre swim, but pulled out of the event a few kilometres into the 50km bike ride. Afterwards she was quoted as saying, “When I was on the bike I was sick and every time I took on fluids I was sick again. It’s not great when you’ve got sick down your arms and your new white shoes are ruined. I have always told myself I would never not finish a race and it’s hard to describe how I felt having to pull out.”
Despite the obvious disappointment, Hollie soon picked herself up again and came back stronger than ever, and at the 2009 Triathlon World Championships in Australia she dominated her race to be crowned the Under 23 World Champion.
“I see it as a real compliment, that my country is behind me, wanting me to do well.”
With a junior and now an U23 world title under her belt it seemed everything was back on track, but after her first race of the 2010 season, a 22nd place finish in Soeul in May, she was in hospital diagnosed with a bad case of gastroenteritis. It was the start of a season that would turn out to be punctuated by illness.
When she was still struggling a month later she and Ben Bright, her coach, made the decision to pull out of the World Championship Series race in Madrid and concentrate on the Senior European Championships, which was at the beginning of July. A solid 10th place finish there seemed to suggest the form and fitness was slowly returning. But after following this up with a 43rd place finish at the next World Championship Series event in London it was clear things weren’t right in Camp Avil.
The decision that this wise-beyond-her-years athlete came to was to turn things on their head. She wanted to change coach and leave her base in Loughborough.
She had been coached by Bright since starting in the sport, and together they had achieved great things but as Hollie wrote on her blog at the time, ‘For a while now I’ve been thinking about change. A change of coach and a change of environment. I feel I’ve been a very passive athlete for the past few years. I accept that as a 15 – 18/19 year old who’s new to the world of triathlon I needed a lot of guidance. But I feel it’s now time for people to let go of my hand. I need to become more of an assertive athlete. The bottom line is, a triathlete needs to be assertive, our race is full of uncontrollable and unplanned situations. I have to be able to make quick decisions by myself and trust them. I need to start doing this with my training too.’
So with change on the horizon, and another two disappointing results on the board, 40th in the final World Championship Series event in Kitzbuhel, and a ‘did not finish’ at the U23 European Championships, plus yet more illness and niggles to deal with, Hollie was happy to put the season to bed.
Which is how she now finds herself living in Leeds and training under two new coaches. “Leeds is a centre for British Triathlon and I am good friends with (top triathletes) Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, who are both based up here,” she says. “They always said it was a great place to train. I came up to visit and just fell in love with it instantly. There are lovely training routes; the hills and countryside are beautiful. Plus top coaches Malcolm Brown and Jack Maitland are here.”
Inevitably Hollie is now focused on London 2012 and this and next year’s seasons are all about building up to that, and gaining qualification. Not surprisingly she is being touted as one of Britain’s’ medal hopes.
And unlike many athletes she is not afraid to speak openly about her ambitions, “In every race I take part in my goal is to win. You hear a lot of athletes whose aim is just to get to the Olympics, but that is not my goal. I want to get on the podium, and I don’t want to settle for a bronze, I’m definitely going for a gold. I know it’s easy to say and it is a lot of hard work to get there but, that’s what these next 18 months are for.”
And despite the rollercoaster that she has been on recently, it’s not hard to believe that this could happen. She’s tasted success, but she’s also tasted failure and it’s having experienced both of these, and come out the other side a stronger person because of it, that just may well catapult this superstar in waiting to the very top.
Fast Facts
Date of birth: 12/04/2024
Sporting hero: Paula Radcliffe
Triathlon idol: Tim Don
Mantra: ‘It’s not the training you put in; it’s what you put into the training.”
Race diary: Hollie will be racing some French Grand Prix and ITU WCS races throughout the summer with her focus being Hyde Park WCS and Beijing WCS Grand Final, where possible Olympic nomination can be obtained with podium performances.
Louise Hudson, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
Hollie is fuelled by Lucozade Sport – Supporting British Performance. Find out more at www.lucozadesport.com.
