Olympic medallist Sam Dickinson reached the podium on his T100 debut in August and he’s now rounded off a successful first campaign by finishing in the top 10 of the overall standings.
His eighth place in the Grand Final in Qatar saw him fill the same position overall which not only netted him an $80,000 bonus but also earn an invite for the 2026 series.
And TRI247’s Jenny Lucas-Hill caught up with Sam after the race in Qatar to look back at 2025 and then ahead to next year and the start of the build towards the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Making the step up
Of his mindset at the start of the season, he said: “I just came into this year coming off the back of the Olympics last year, not really knowing what long course will give me and I had to race other races to qualify to get onto the T100.
“My goal then was to make sure that I could get onto the T100 next year and I’ve managed to do that now. So to be honest, it’s surpassed my expectations and I’m really happy with how I’ve competed this year and stuck in there when it’s been tough.”
Asked what the biggest differences have been when moving up from short course, he explained: “I think at the start I really struggled with getting used to the TT bike and then going into the run after that. But over time we’ve worked it out and I’ll be looking to build on that for next year.
“It’s very similar actually in the swim, because the swim standard’s so high in this racing, though there are less people in the water, which is nice. The big change is just riding on the TT bike more and doing both my sessions a week on the TT bike. I still use the road bike as well for my aerobic miles. And on the run I’ve taken off a bit of the speed, especially compared to the relay work and stuff that I did before Paris.
“When it comes to the run, we’re doing between 3:15 and 3:25 per kilometres out there, so you don’t need to run your sub-3:00s like short course. It’s more about longer sessions on the run and just trying to dial in that fatigue resistance.”
Reaching his full potential the goal
As to how 2026 will pan out, it sounds like a mix of T100 and short course as the Olympic qualifying period gets under way, with Sam pointing out: “We’ve only got four T100 races [it will be four for men and four for women in 2026] plus the Grand Final next year, so it means I can target those and then I’d love to fill in my time with more relay and short course stuff with an eye on LA coming up in three years’ time.”
Dickinson famously helped Team GB to bronze in a thrilling Mixed Relay in Paris but he hopes to also be an contender for an individual medal in 2028.
He said: “My goals are really tangible, to be honest. That’s to reach my potential in my sporting career, so whatever that is, I want to get there.
“And for me it just means staying healthy as my injury history is pretty heavy. So, if I can stay healthy for the next three years and get my running into a place that I know it can be competitive over the 10k distance, then I’ll go to LA as a contender. But I mean Alex [Yee] has just run a 2:06 marathon!
“He’s a phenomenal athlete and just being on a team with him is a real privilege.”
Many age groupers will be following Dickinson’s path in stepping up in distance and asked for his top piece of advice for them, he told us: “If I had to choose one, it would be that fuelling does make a difference at longer distance.
“So really practise your race fuelling in training as well so that when you get out there you don’t bonk or have a really bad day because you don’t have any energy.”
