Great Britain’s 2013 ITU Triathlon World Champion, Non Stanford, has undergone knee surgery in London.
Ahead of Olympic year and the intense competition to secure one of the three slots available to Great Britain’s women, the timing is far from ideal, but Stanford hopes to be “Back in action in time for most of the WTS season.”
Fourth at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Non returned to the top step of the World Triathlon Series podium in 2019 in Hamburg, a year which saw her finish seventh in the ITU World Triathlon Series rankings, after a consistent and successful first year under the coaching guidance of Joel Filliol. Non recently ended her 2019 season with third place at the Beijing International Triathlon, which was won by Flora Duffy.
The British Triathlon selection policy for Tokyo 2020 indicates that team nomination will be made in May 2020, which would take into account the first three WTS races of the season in Abu Dhabi (March), Bermuda (April) and Yokohama (May).
That final race in Japan could well be a key factor in the final selection, so we’d like to pass on our best wishes to Non for her recovery so that she can be in a position to compete with the likes of Jessica Learmonth, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Vicky Holland in what looks set to be very tough competition to secure a coveted Olympic start.