Emma Moffatt

            “Yay! A bit of excitement.”
           
Q: How much pain were you in out there?
“I think I was actually quite lucky that it was a tactical run and it wasn’t flat out the whole way. I guess I wasn’t having the fitness coming into this race that I would have liked, so I was quite happy when Lisa was prepared to play a few games.”

Q: You came down Thunder Ally and attacked Lisa. Where did you get your energy from?
“I guess the crowd; they were just amazing out there when I was coming down the home straight. I really didn’t want to let them down. They give you the extra lift and make it all really exciting.”
“You go into every race and you want to do the best you can so I went out there today and I wanted to win, so I guess I was focusing on that.”

Q: Did you feel much pain in your foot?
            “Actually no I didn’t. It’s all taped up and I took some Voltarin. I guess with the adrenaline it feels fine.”

Q: Did you mean to lead them off track in the swim?
            “No (laughs). Oh my god, I had no idea. I couldn’t see the buoys. I guess I should have gone over the course maybe beforehand, deciphered it properly, but I guess making the swim a little longer wasn’t so bad.”

            “I guess I had to worry about what I was doing. I could here Lisa’s coach saying that he wanted Jenkins in the picture, so I had to have a look and see where she was. I think Lisa was slowing down try to get her up near her, so I guess I just had to keep the pace on a little bit to make sure that wasn’t going to happen.”
Q: How much of today was mental strength?
            “I guess when you have an injury you have to rely a little bit more on your mental strength. I guess I was just thinking a lot about all the hard work that I had put in and not [on] what I wasn’t able to do; so I guess a lot of it is in your mind.”

Q: Was there a point in the race when you knew how much you wanted this?
            “Not really. Lisa kind of cut me off on one of the corners and that kind of got me going a bit.”

Q: What advice was your coach giving out on the course?
            “Just the usual; stay strong, think about my leg speed and be smart. I guess he doesn’t say too much [because] it’s all be said before in training, so you kind of know what to do when you’re out there.”
            “I think he’d liked to keep me pretty relaxed. Yesterday when he had the chat to me [he said] you don’t want to get too nervous. I guess he’s just reassuring. He knows what we’ve done in training and how hard we’ve been so he knows what we’re capable of.”

Q: Is it all still a bit surreal?
“I haven’t really had time to think about it yet. I guess it’ll all take a while to sink in. It’s definitely a great achievement that I never thought I was capable of… I guess until I crossed the line (laughs). But it definitely hasn’t sunk in yet. Maybe in the morning it will.”

“I guess I was kind of nervous in a different way going into this race. Normally you going in and you know how fit you are and what you’re capable of, but having four or five weeks off running a few weeks ago it does make it a little more nerve racking but I guess and the km’s that’s I’ve done recently and the running in the last two weeks obviously just kept me up there.”

Q: How was it racing here at home?
“It’s been great. We’ve had wonderful support from all the staff. We’re lucky to have so many here to help us being in our home country. I guess it was so relaxed all week ‘cause we’re all so familiar with where we are and the environment and I think that really helped me out there today.”

Q: What will you do between now and next season?
            “Definitely get my foot better and rest. I guess I’ll probably rest until that’s better and let my hair down; have a good time; go away, have a holiday somewhere, and when I’m ready to come back I’ll start training again. But that’s a long way away.”

Q: Were you keeping anything in reserve for the end?
            “I guess I didn’t want to take it out too hard and blow up on lap two or three, so it was definitely a technical run, tactical-wise, between Lisa and I.”
            “So I guess [my ploy was] just to sit in with her, as much as I could, and just save myself.”
            “I felt good on the last lap still so I guess I was backing myself for the home bit.”

Q: Emma Jackson told journalists today that you were her hero. How weird is that?
            “I’m the hand-me-down of the Emmas’.”
            “It’s kind of weird. I guess I never thought I’d be in that position before but it’s great if you can inspire someone to achieve good things.”

Emma Moffat is the third Emma to win a World Championship.
            “And Emma Jackson might be the next one, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for that. Let’s keep it going.”

Courtney Atkinson

                “It [the race] was pretty satisfactory...  Half way through the season I completely stopped training one way and flipped, and started training running... So in two months I’ve been able to pull myself from a runner who was a minute plus back, ‘cause I was doing the biking so well, to back towards being a runner, and I’m pretty happy... I’m stoked with today.”

                “Earlier in the year I had a run, like a podium streak – I nearly won every race I was starting and if not second – I went right through to the World Championship series in Madrid... Everyone has there excuses I suppose but for me it was just the racing change... I had a few ups and downs... My happiest race of the year, before this one, was in London and I got 7th... I think I lead through about the 3 - 4km mark in the run and I had some good speed again... Maybe next year i’ll go back to a bit more speed racing like I used to... I’ve got the speed there and I’ve worked so many year on getting the endurance, and I think I may have just tipped the scales too far. So I think I’ve got a long way to come back and a lot of speed to burn.”

                [Having the home crowd there] definitely helped, especially at the end there, having the Russian there next to me, probably would have worked a bit harder if it was a Kiwi (laughs) but it was definitely a good ruck to have and I suppose it gives me a bit of confidence going into next year. Then, on the flip side, you see what we’ve got to get to and that’s a long way down the road at the moment, so [I’ve] got some work [to do] in the off season.”

                Courtney suffered a penalty of 10 seconds for a false start into the water.

Alistair Brownlee

                “It’s absolutely amazing, and to do it the way that I’ve done it – even today, I’ve had some good races but I had no idea how this was going to go, and I really had to give it a hundred per cent today and I’m absolutely delighted with the result.”

                One for Brittan – Tim Dom, the last British World Champion was, also out racing today (finished 16th) – What does that do for sport in England?

                “Yeah, it amazing. Will Clarke won the 23 Championship a few years back and Holly just won yesterday – it’s a brilliant time for us especially how well everything in sport is going – it’s really exciting coming up to London, so it’s god for all of us.”

                Brownlee didn’t need to win today but obviously wanted to strive for his best performance and go out in such a way.

“Well everyone enters a race wanting to win... I mean, I really wanted to win the world title and I wasn’t going to do anything to make sure that didn’t happen, but when I saw the chance to win I knew I wasn’t going to let [Gomez] go, I just gave it everything and I’m delighted with how the race went.”

                This was without a doubt the toughest race of the year. I think Javier was probably at his fittest and most of the races hosted in Australian run against the best runners in the world, and [so] most of the best runners were here, and I won it on a run, so I’m really delighted with that.”
                Q: At what stage do you think you had Javier?

“The last 50m (laughs).”

“I was pretty confident that those guys weren’t that good of runners, and I also knew that if Javier didn’t win over all then I could afford to come 10th. I didn’t have to win... With those four guys beating me, I could afford to come 10th and still win outstanding. It was his prerogative to chase them down, and I just thought I’d let them go and see what he wanted to do.”

                Q: What will you do with the money?

“I guess I’ll just go home and see... I’m not going to think about that too much.”
Final lap.

“I just had to do everything I could do to hold on. I just kept telling myself ‘get to the top of the hill’ ‘and I know I can run down a lot faster than him, so I just got to the top of the hill and hung on and kind of tried to surged and make him hurt then. And then on the last lap I got to the top of the hill and I gave absolutely everything I had, and he didn’t come past me there and I wouldn’t have let him, and it’s as simple as that... I guess I like running down hill.”

Brad Kahlefeldt

                “That time off [from his foot injury] affected me in the water. I didn’t have the best swim and I had to ride really hard but as soon as I got to the run, I knew it wasn’t good news. In the first km I could feel it and it just kind of got worse and worse throughout the race... I just couldn’t get into a rhythm and I was just kind of limping the whole way – which I don’t like doing. Obviously in a run I like to be in a rhythm and today there was just none... Every U-turn was killing my foot and that’s the point I was thinking of walking, but there’s no way I could walk, I just wanted to finish the race.”

                Q: Are you proud of pushing through it all?

                “Yeah, well you’ve got to do it, don’t you? I’m here ‘cause I said I was going to race and I want to race – that’s the bottom line.”

                “Four weeks ago I could have said I’d be in good shape to win, but it’s been an uphill battle since London, so it was a miracle I was even on the start line. Maybe we should have looked at pain killers for the race but I just didn’t like that feeling of a dead foot.  I like to feel everything in my foot – every sensation.”

                “It’s been a pretty big season and I would have liked to finish on a better note but I need a break now and I’ll move on to next year.”

                “My foot will need at least another two or three weeks to heal, and I’ll take probably 4-6 weeks off training. I think I need that. I’ve been training since February/March now so [it’s been] a massive year.”

                “Yeah I think that’s it. I think I need a break. And there’s no way I could race on my foot in the next couple of weeks anyway, so I think I just need a break and I’ll move on to next year.”
                “I just wanted to get across the line and get as up there as I could. And unfortunately today I wasn’t up there today so that’s sort of a bit disappointing, but you’ve got to expect it when it’s been such an uphill battle, I guess.”

                “It’s always a long shot that you can get to the race and not feel good, but as soon as I put the running shoes on I was in competition world and usually I can capitalise on those positions, but when it comes to running a leg like that – a fat run – it’s usually pretty good for me, but not to worry.”