Tim Don: Now is Time For Jonny Brownlee To Prove Himself

Jonny is looking for an Olympic team relay spot in Paris. We know his history, we know he has the tactics and the skillset with his smooth transitions. This is about him proving that to himself to cement his place in the British team.

What he did in Tokyo was just fantastic. It was THE relay leg of the Olympics, but also it was what he was doing behind the scenes and being that team leader and I think that is something we are missing as a federation.

The reason he has chosen superti E is because it is short and sharp and he really needs to show he has those fast times and big powers.

His Word Ranking is high enough, we are guaranteed two spots, so for him it is showing he is the number two behind Alex Yee when it comes to team relay and there is no better place to show that than a super fast race.

He is a home boy and he likes the home support behind him so this will be good for him.

He’s been telling everyone he is only going to go if he can achieve what he wants to achieve. If someone offers you an Olympic spot I think you are not going to turn it down.

For all that, he has got to prove himself. Barclay Izzard I think is the main competition, and we know Hugo Milner is attracting a lot of hype and will race against Jonny in supertri E, but as a professional athlete whatever you tell the media your expectations or goals are, your personal ones are definitely higher than that. This is such a quantifiable race with a 200m pool swim and no cutting of the buoy and no race cancellation. This is pure numbers and the chance for Jonny to start his year on a high.