Jimmy Whelan has set out his goals for the year after ditching pro cycling to become a pro triathlete, as he gears up for his first race next month.
Aussie Whelan made the momentous decision to end a seven-year road cycling career in October, and competed in his first triathlon in Melbourne on January 13, when he finished on the podium in third.
Now, the 28-year-old is preparing for his first big test in swim/bike/run – IRONMAN 70.3 in Geelong, Australia on March 25, and he has high hopes he can make a big impact in the sport.
Swim work the secret to success
Jimmy told TRI247: “I am quite curious to see how this year goes. If I can sort out the swim then I think I could be competitive in some big races.
“My debut pro race is the Geelong 70.3 in a bit under a month’s time. The training is going well so far. I have had a solid four months now of consistent training without any sicknesses or serious injuries so it’s been a very nice introduction block to the new sport. My riding and running is up to a top pro standard however I need to work on my swim.”
Whelan made waves in the cycling world by winning the U23 Ronde van Vlaanderen in 2018, a breakthrough which led to him doing a three-year stint racing at the WorldTour, making his Grand Tour debut in 2020 at the Giro D’Italia. Last year he was under contract with the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.
While he admits his biggest challenge in triathlon is adapting to the swim, he has made significant progress already.
Jimmy told us: “When I first started (in October) I could only swim at 2min/100m and now I can swim quite easily at 1:20/100m. I am swimming about 10-12k a week, which some may say is not enough, but I find it’s the most my body can handle given my run and ride volume. It seems to be a good balance for the moment.
“I have a decent swim technique which has been critiqued by specialists so I just need to put the time and effort in over a few more months to get faster.”
2024 goals – ‘lofty’ ones for Jimmy
Whelan’s goals for the year include winning a 70.3 event, getting a wildcard into T100 and to qualify for the 70.3 World Championship in Marbella in November.
He admitted: “These are lofty goals. However if I can sort the swimming out then I truly think these things are possible, in the right race of course.
“I think a lot of people are curious to see how I am going to go because I do have the riding and running to a world-class standard which is a must have if you want to win big stuff and a lot of athletes do not have these attributes.”
A few months on from that massive career move, Jimmy says he has zero regrets about his big switch.
“I am really happy with the decision I made. I thought I would be watching road cycling and missing the races on TV. However that is far from the reality,” he revealed.
“I am excited to be trying something new and challenging, and by challenging I do not just mean the physical demands of the races, but rather setting a new lifestyle with new people and creating essentially a new business for myself. It is a lot of work however if I do it correctly then I can have quite a long and happy career in this new game.”
After Geelong, Whelan will race at the IRONMAN 70.3 in Valencia on April 27 before competing at Aix-en-Provence on May 18 and Rapperswil-Jona on June 1. He then plans to spend one month doing altitude training at Font Romeu to prepare for the 70.3 in Nice on June 29.
After Nice, Jimmy will take a one-week mid-season break before another altitude block to prepare for IRONMAN 70.3 Austria on August 31. After that it will be IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta in late September, before rounding off the year in Marbella on November 9 (qualification permitting).
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