Britain still riding Brownlee wave as Potter and Yee eye Paris gold

LONDON : It is probably a little harsh to describe Beth Potter as an also-ran after she finished 34th in the 2016 Olympic 10,000 metres but, after a change of sport, she will line up for the 2024 triathlon when anything but gold will be a disappointment.

Potter, a physics teacher and part-time athlete when she ran in that extraordinary record-laden race in Rio, was named alongside Alex Yee as the first triathletes in the Paris Olympics British triathlon team on Thursday.

It was hardly a surprise given that Potter is the newly-crowned world champion and both athletes won the sport's test events on the Olympic course this year.

Like many in the swim-bike-run sport, Potter was inspired by Britain's Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonny, but it was not their brilliant gold/bronze and gold/silver performances in the 2012 and 2016 Games that grabbed her attention.

"Ironically it was watching when Jonny collapsed in Cozumel (the 2016 world triathlon series finale in Mexico)," Potter told reporters on Thursday.

"I just felt really inspired by Alistair picking him up and carrying him across the line and I thought 'I want to do that sport'.

"It was just such a moment of sportsmanship and I was like, 'I want to go to Leeds to train with these guys, how can I get there?'."

Months later Potter, a decent swimmer in her youth, made the leap to triathlon and was indeed training alongside the Brownlees and a host of other British triathletes in what had become the sport's epicentre in Yorkshire.

KEY ADVICE

Potter said the key advice she received from the brothers was to focus on consistency and to give herself time to develop in the new sport, where Britain have won more Olympic medals than any other country.

"It was just a case of doing little