Jenkins Inspired By Teammates
Great Britain's Helen Jenkins is the country's top female triathlete and has her sights set on the 2012 London Olympic Games.
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Great Britain’s Helen Jenkins is the country’s top female triathlete and has her sights set on the 2012 London Olympic Games. Despite her success, the focus is often on Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee. In this article, Jenkins explains why she is inspired by the success of her British teammates.
Wales’ Helen Jenkins won the world title in 2008 but has since been upstaged by Alistair Brownlee, the 2009 world champion, and his brother Jonny.
Jenkins, now fourth in the world, told BBC Sport: “They make us look very average. I get third in a race, then they win theirs the next day.
“And then mine’s just third, isn’t it? It makes you not want to settle.”
The Bridgend 26-year-old won the world title under her maiden name, Tucker, in a one-off event before the World Championship moved to its current seven-event series format.
She battled to a string of third-place finishes over the past two years, finishing in bronze-medal position twice on the World Championship circuit in both 2009 and 2010.
“I was third a lot in 2010 and it would be nice to go up higher than that,” she added, before paying tribute to the success of Britain’s men.