Alistair Brownlee: Top athletes often on the edge of 'mental health problems'

The mental and physical rigours of elite sport are an obstacle all athletes must overcome.

For triathlon’s superstar siblings Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, those battles are more acute.

And after a difficult 2018, in a sport which routinely pushes competitors to their limits, both know having each other offers a unique form of support when others might feel isolated.

“I think in top level sport you’re probably quite often on the edge of what someone might define as a mental health problem,” Alistair told Yahoo Sport UK.

“There is pressure. There’s a lot of anxiety to do with injury, there’s potential of being a bit down and depressed if you’ve got an injury or if things aren’t going your way, anxiety in the lead up to races.”

“But I think a lot of that is the natural part of it and I think it’s something you’ve kind of got to learn to deal with. And fortunately I think both of us have learnt to deal with it and fought those battles ourselves and done ok. Obviously we know lots of people who haven’t been so lucky.”

“I’ve been very lucky in my career to have a support network behind me,” says Jonny, citing his parents and his brother as key figures when it comes to his wellbeing.

“I think the hardest time for all athletes is when you’re injured and you can’t do what you love. And then the mental health definitely comes into that. But I’ve been able to talk to Alistair about how to get over injuries and how to deal with it and had good friends around me who’ve helped me.

“So I think I’ve been very, very fortunate to have a good support network which has probably saved me a few times.”

The pair hit the headlines in 2016 after Alistair gave up the opportunity to win a World Triathlon series race when his brother was visibly struggling down the final stretch. Alistair put Jonny’s arm around his shoulders in the final and pushed him over the line to take second place behind South African Henri Schoeman.

And it’s a two-way street, with Alistair previously admitting that having his younger brother alongside him has been an “enormously positive force” throughout his triathlon career.

Alistair has hit his sport’s highest heights, a multiple world champion who also boasts two Olympic gold medals.

Jonny, who has achieved similar bar reaching the top of the podium at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, believes it’s easy for people to forget athletes have a human side and think they’re “like robots and can turn up and perform” calling it “very, very hard” to maintain the highest standards.

And with another Olympic games on the horizon, Alistair says the “door is open” for him to compete at Tokyo in 2020 but he hasn’t made the final decision on whether or not he’ll try to win a third gold medal.

By contrast, Jonny has no doubt in his mind when it comes to his goals for 2019. Qualify for a third Olympics and put 2018 behind him.

With both having experienced a disjointed 12 months thanks to illness and injury, they’re hoping for a smoother run in the months ahead.

“I don’t think there’s ever a great year to not have a good year,” said Alistair.

“But I think it’s not even that, it’s the law of averages. If you compete at the top level for over a decade, you’re probably going to have a year in there somewhere that doesn’t go to plan. So yeah, hopefully 2018 was that year.”

In a bid to manage their bodies and prolong their careers, the siblings have adopted an approach similar to that of sport’s grand old performers like Roger Federer and Tiger Woods - only competing in significant events instead of thrashing their bodies through the relentless schedule of elite sport.

As he prepares for his first World Triathlon Series race in Bermuda, Jonny says he doesn’t intend ‘chase races around the world.’ If that means he won’t take home a World Championship title, then so be it.

“With the travelling and the missing on training, it’s quite hard to do well in the whole year,” he explained.

“So I’m targeting the individual races and if that ends up with a good result in the World Championship then I’ll take that.”

He’ll instead focus his attention on his hometown event, the World Triathlon Series in Leeds, alongside Yokohama in Japan and the Grand Final in Lausanne, Switzerland. He’ll also compete in the Tokyo test event which doubles up as a qualification race for the 2020 Games.

A podium there would bring automatic qualification exactly 12 months before the showpiece race. An ideal situation for Jonny, allowing him to focus his attention on lining up for the medal race with the best possible chance of taking home gold.

As for Alistair, he’d like to build on a couple of good results from his foray into longer distance events.

He put together a masterful win at the Ironman 70.3 in Dubai as well as taking a silver medal at the 70.3 World Championships in South Africa.

But like Jonny, injury took its toll. The stunning results, once a given for the brothers, have fallen away.

For both, Tokyo will represent a watershed moment. Jonny admits he’s “not entirely sure” what he’ll do once the racing is over in 2020.

“I think that probably will be it for me at Olympic distance, but that can change. I might do Tokyo then go ‘right, I want to go do Paris now as well.’

“But by that point, as soon as I’m ready for a change I’ll move on to the longer distance, I want a new challenge, and that’s what I’ll do, but I’m not sure at the moment.”

For Alistair, the line is in the sand. If he does compete in Tokyo, that will signal the end of his time at the Olympic distance.

“I consider myself very lucky that as a young guy, starting to do triathlon on the world scene as a 16-year-old, I never in a million years thought I’d go to three Olympics and you know win, twice,” said Alistair.

“So I can look back with lots of pride on those years.”

The Brownlees were speaking at Triathlon Show: London courtesy of their official nutrition partners OTE Sports.