Team England's Vicky Holland has admitted that she is disappointed with her fourth-place finish in the women's triathlon at the Commonwealth Games this morning.
Holland was defending her bronze medal from Glasgow four years ago, but narrowly missed out on the podium this time around as she finished just four seconds behind Canadian Joanna Brown.
The 32-year-old spent nine months out of the 2017 season due to injury before winning her first race back in February, but she acknowledged that she was not at her best on the day.
When asked whether her overriding emotion at the end of the race was one of disappointment, Holland told Sports Mole: "Definitely. I had a long time to build up to this race, having been injured in the back of last year, but I knew I'd qualified in May last year, so I've almost had 11 months to kind of just focus on this race and do everything I can to be in the right shape on the right day and if I'm honest, a few things didn't go my way today.
"I struggled in the swim and maybe just didn't have my best day overall. Those fine percentages kind of just add up, if you're not really sharp and everything doesn't quite go for you. I don't know, I didn't start as well in the swim, I really struggled to find any clear water at all. Every time I looked up I could see the girls disappearing into the distance and it's a long way back from there.
"On the bike once it came together as one group, with the exception of Jess [Learmonth] and Flora [Duffy], it sort of became clear that it was going to be a fight for the bronze medal. If I'm honest I thought the biggest challenge was going to be Ashleigh [Gentle], and when it came down to myself and Jo, I haven't really raced Jo in that kind of scenario - I hadn't done a head-to-head with her and I didn't really know where her strengths and weakness lie.
"I thought maybe I could take her at the end, I put a few digs in on the last stretch in the last kilometre but she hung tough. She kicked when she was coming down into the finish line, and I just didn't have the legs to respond and I just couldn't come back from there. Fourth place but at the same time I'm still really proud - I couldn't have done any more, I have all I had and I just didn't quite have enough to bring home a medal and join Jess on the podium on the day."
Holland's compatriot Learmonth claimed silver behind Bermuda's Duffy, who picked up the first gold medal of the Games.
Barney Corkhill
