Sam Dickinson determined to be more than just a pilot at Paris 2024

By Tom Harle

Sam Dickinson insists he’s at Paris 2024 as much more than a pilot.

The York triathlete will join Alex Yee in the Olympic men’s individual race on Tuesday after winning an intense selection battle for the second Team GB spot.

The all-important selection policy stated that if athletes are not individual medal contenders, they will be considered on their strength as a contributor to the mixed relay and also their potential as a pilot.

In that scenario, as he did successfully at May’s World Series race in Cagliari, Dickinson would race as a domestique and ride tactically to advance Yee’s interests.

“Without wanting to share all of our secrets, I have my own specific race plan which works in conjunction with Alex,” said Dickinson.

“I have been picked predominantly for the relay, but from a personal development point of view, I still need to use this experience to maximise my own individual race. We have guidelines to race, we’ll race intelligently with each other.

“I have my own set of boundaries which I need to hit, I have my own specific goals in the race which I need to hit as well. I’m not just diving in blind - I’ll look to fulfil my own race processes too.

“We’re very well prepared for what we have to deal with on the day and I’m looking forward to it.”

As the only male athletes, Dickinson and Yee will take part in the mixed relay on Monday 5 August with two of Beth Potter, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Beth Potter joining them on the legs allocated for female athletes.

In a change from Tokyo, where Team GB won the inaugural gold in the event, the order will run male, female, male, female.

“It’s going to be full on, for sure,” said Dickinson. “There are a handful of world-class teams, but as Great Britain, we always come together really well for a relay.

“You’re racing for other people as well as your country. It means a lot to me and I’m looking forward to showcasing the preparation I’ve put in for that specific event.”

Issues with the water quality in the Seine and the potential for the race to be reduced to a duathlon have dominated the build-up.

Dickinson, Leeds-based Georgia Taylor-Brown and Beth Potter and fellow Team GB colleagues Kate Waugh and Alex Yee were all grilled on the prospect in pre-race interviews.

But for them, this is absolutely nothing new.

“We haven’t done anything differently for this race,” said Taylor-Brown. “After the races, we’ll be washed down by doctors with a kind of pink solution that they use in hospitals.

“We’ll use mouthwash straight away to clear everything out and probably peptobismol to line our stomachs… pre and probiotics we’ve been taking.”

“We race in terrible water quality all the time and people are getting sick, but that’s the situation the world is in.

“I know that measures are being taken and we’ve been doing our own things for years. Sometimes we’ll be swimming and we can see oil from ships in the water in front of us. So we’re used to it and that isn’t a good thing, but things won’t change until more money is put into it.”

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