I was happier with today’s performance over Sydney. I have been building my strength and speed and it is starting to come together. I had a bad swim in Sydney and today had a better one. I am still off where I normally get out of the water but a lot of time has been put into taking time off my run and bike strength this season, so the swimming will be coming back in the next while. I worked hard for the first couple laps with a group of four to chase down the group ahead and got close when the main bunch behind caught us and then within a lap we got the group ahead. A lap or two later the whole race came together at the front and I focused on good positioning to avoid crashes and be set up for transition. I was top three into transition and got onto the run quickly and felt relaxed up the first hill. I have been struggling with quad tightness since Sydney and felt them on the down hills and they were heavy on the ups. I got gapped from a group of four at the 3.5km mark as the 2nd and 3rd place men surged and I held as strong as I could. Heading onto the last lap I was gaining on two Japanese athletes and committed to catching them by 1km to go and get every Olympic point I could. I gutted out a rough sprint to try and move into 7th but came up a hair short and finished 8th. It was a good chunk of Olympic points and has now moved me into the first ranked Canadian. However, our rivals from Europe have not jumped Simon and we are just outside the eight countries with three spots. Still more racing to come and we have opportunity to move back into three spots. A solid day and to be within 30seconds of the winner is the closest a Canadian has been this season and last season since Edmonton World Cup. Time for bed and a long day of travel tomorrow. Will be nice to get there after six weeks away. www.brentmcmahon.blogspot.com @tribrentmcmahon on twitter
