Brownlee eyes domestique

Jonny Brownlee: Wants a domestique to be taken

Jonny Brownlee believes that the third member of the British men's triathlon team should be picked solely to help him and brother Alistair win medals at the Olympic Games.

During the selection process, there has been a heated debate whether British Triathlon should choose domestiques to support their best athletes.

This could result in the likes of Tim Don, Will Clarke, Liz Blatchford and Vicky Holland, who have all had very good results at elite level, missing out on the chance to compete in their own right.

There is also the option for British Triathlon to pick less successful athletes who can help the Brownlees or Helen Jenkins, women's world champion, on specific sections of the race in Hyde Park in August.

Control

Jonny Brownlee said: "The selection criteria was people had to get two podiums (in the World Triathlon Series) and no one's done that this year so I believe a domestique should be taken now.

"It's a home Olympics, I want a medal and my best chance of getting a medal is if we have a domestique, especially when we're going to be under a bit of pressure and a lot of people are going to want us to control the race.

"It's up to the selectors now to choose the right person and we'll see what they do."

His brother Alistair Brownlee is working his way back to fitness following an Achilles injury but Jonny proved once again at the weekend that he is a class above most of the world's triathletes, with a dominant performance to win the WTS race in Madrid.

After also winning in San Diego two weeks ago, it was his second successive victory, and it came at a canter after he was part of a nine-man breakaway on the bike.

Meanwhile, Don had hoped a performance like his seventh place in San Diego would be enough to take the third Olympic spot in his own right yet he was playing catch-up from the beginning and eventually dropped out.

Selection

The selectors meet this week to decide the team of three men and three women, which will be announced next month. From then on, the business of preparing for the Games can really begin, something Jonny Brownlee is looking forward to.

"It'll be a good moment. This year's been strange because my Olympic selection was over so I've gone into the races nice and relaxed but there's been a lot of tension around the British camp because people want to go to the Olympics," he added.

"A home Olympics is massive and people have been aiming for this for four years. I'm pleased it's all over now. We can't do anything else so everyone can start training again and move on."