Olympic champion Jess Learmonth says she pushed the boundaries during her unexpected pregnancy in a bid to keep her Paris 2024 dream alive.
Learmonth, who won gold in the triathlon mixed relay at Tokyo 2020, became a mum for the first time when giving birth to Frederick last September.
The 35-year-old from Leeds fell pregnant during her recovery from a serious hip injury and, having not competed since May 2022, is on a mission to get back to her best in time for this summer’s Olympics.
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She told the PA news agency: “I probably shouldn’t have run on the day I gave birth. I actually pulled my calf on a run in the morning and then gave birth that evening.
“Looking back, I was heavily over my usual running weight and obviously my gait was completely different because I had a big belly.
“Maybe if I hadn’t pulled my calf I’d have said it was fine. But yeah, looking back, with two weeks to go, I probably could have just chilled out a little bit.”
Learmonth, determined to hit the ground running once Frederick was born, found medical research into training while pregnant to be limited.
Until the turn of the century it was rare to see women return to the top of their sport after giving birth.
Learmonth is grateful to the doctors and sports scientists at the National Sports Centre at Bisham Abbey and British Triathlon for their support.
“There were certain things I obviously did follow,” she said. “The massive one is not running for 12 weeks post-birth. If you come back too early, you can have problems later down the line.
“I followed all the advice, but it was the stuff they weren’t sure on that I kind of explored myself.
“I was still lifting heavy weights in the gym. I took the information and filtered it for me. They helped me find my own boundaries and explore what I could and couldn’t manage.”
Learmonth stressed that throughout her pregnancy she never allowed her heart rate to go beyond 150 beats per minute, while her approach, so far, appears to be paying off.
Running aside, she is closing in on the performance levels that saw her win Olympic gold and finish second overall in the 2019 World Series after multiple podium finishes.
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“I’m not far away,” said the 2017 European champion. “I’m just not as good as I was before, yet. There have been big changes in my life, having Fred and not training as much.
“It’s interesting to see how my body will react to doing less training and more recovery. It could go either way.”
Learmonth has been surprised by her progress as she targets the first Indoor World Cup event of the season in Lievin, France, for her return to competitive action at the end of March.
“I think Frederick’s helped me a lot because we’ve done a lot of tests in the lab and my numbers are probably just as good, if not better, than pre-pregnancy, certainly on the bike, which has kind of baffled me really,” she said.
“I don’t know if having him and the different hormones you get from having a child and post-birth has kind of helped me out, but it’s been really, really motivating.
“But after pregnancy I’ve found it a lot harder than I thought I would, mainly because of the logistics of him feeding and napping.
“I’m breastfeeding as well, so it’s difficult to get the timings right. I have to make sure, logistically, I’m on it.”
Learmonth, made an MBE in 2022, will not be the first triathlete to return to top-level action after giving birth as fellow Brit and former world champion Vicky Holland and Americans Katie Zaferes and Gwen Jorgensen have paved the way.
“They’ve definitely inspired me,” Learmonth added. “I just wish there was more definitive research out there that shows athletes can have children and come back and be just as good.
“There’s still a lot of stigma around training through pregnancy and certainly what I was doing and I’d love to help get more exposure and help inspire all new mums who want to get back into sport.”
Grand weekend celebration planned to honour Grenada's Paris Olympic team
Grenada’s athletes to the Paris Olympic Games are set to be feted with much pomp and pageantry when they return home over the weekend, following their credible performance at the recently-concluded global multi-sport showpiece.
The six-member team comprising Kirani James, Lindon Victor, Anderson Peters, Halle Hazzard, Tilly Collymore and Zachary Gresham will be celebrated for their efforts in track and field and in the pool, as they gave Grenada much to be proud of.
Victor’s decathlon bronze, as well as Peters javelin bronze represents the Spice Isle’s highest-ever medal haul at an Olympic Games.
James, the island’s most decorated athlete, just missed out on a medal in the men’s 400m, as he placed fifth.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Government of Grenada announced that ceremonies will take place on Saturday August 17 and Sunday, August 18.
Peters, James and Victor will arrive on Saturday.
“The activities have been put in place to celebrate athletes who have brought glory and honour to our land,” said Acting Minister of Sports Delma Thomas.
“Let’s get together and be part of the grandest welcome ever, as we celebrate Grenadian resilience and excellence,” she added, while encouraging citizens throughout Grenada to organize in their various communities to participate, especially in the events on Sunday.
The athletes will be greeted by government officials, sport associations’ executives and family members, while Grenadians are invited to join the greeting party outside of the airport at 2:00pm. The weekend’s activities will also include a national motorcade on Sunday, August 18, which begins at Morne Rouge and a recognition rally at the Playing field in Victor’s home parish La Sagesse.
Thomas also hinted at some major announcements regarding the development of sports that will be made at the La Sagesse rally. Packages to honour all the Olympians will also be unveiled in a special address by Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.
'We all should be proud': Sir Viv Richards praises Alfred, LaFond for historic Olympic Games accomplishments
Antigua and Barbuda’s National Hero and iconic West Indies batsman, Sir Vivian Richards, has hailed the accomplishments of St. Lucia's Julien Alfred and Dominica's Thea LaFond at the just-concluded Paris Olympic Games.
In fact, Richards, while sharing his excitement about the athletes' achievements, believes their historic feats are something that the entire Caribbean should be proud of, especially given the fact that both are from tiny islands with a combined population of 250,000.
“We all should be proud, and I feel like I am them [athletes] on the podium too, because you can feel it [the pride] when they hold their hearts. This is just a special time, and you have to big them up because it’s huge, especially coming from small territories as we do at times, and being able to make an impact in the world, and you have the world media saying beautiful things about you; there is no better feeling,” Richards said on the Good Morning Jojo sports show.
Alfred, 23, won gold in the women’s 100m in 10.72s, beating American Sha’Carri Richardson, the reigning World Champion, who was heavily favoured to take the race. The feat delivered St. Lucia’s first ever Olympic medal, before Alfred added another when she placed second in the 200m in 22.08s
Prior to Alfred's feat, LaFond again etched her name in history books for Dominica when she won triple jump gold with a leap of 15.02m. That was her country's first ever Olympic Games medal.
The accomplishments of both Alfred and LaFond followed their exploits at the World Athletics Indoor Championships earlier this year, where they also won their respective events.
Dream on: Paul urges young T&T cyclists to keep pushing for Olympic feat as 2028 LA Games in sight
While looking ahead to possibly making another Olympic Games appearance in 2028 in Los Angeles, Trinidad and Tobago’s cycling stalwart, Nicholas Paul, is also hopeful that he will be able to share that occasion with a few more riders from the twin island republic.
Well aware of the depth of the talent that Trinidad and Tobago possesses, Paul, who relished a second-consecutive Olympic Games appearance at the just-concluded Paris showpiece, believes it is very much possible for those cyclists to also achieve their dreams of competing at the global multi-sport event.
The decorated Paul, who has numerous championship medals under his belt, and Kwesi Browne represented Trinidad and Tobago with much gusto and pride in Paris, as they gave their all on the track in both the sprint and keirin events, though both failed to make the finals.
“Team sprint, sprint, Keirin, team pursuit, I just want as many cyclists as possible to be able to make it on the Olympic stage,” Paul told the Express.
“It’s a big, big, big pool of talented young cyclists coming up. I have been trying to be a good role model for them, to let them know that they can come out here because the dream is possible. You just have to work hard. We can make a good driving force from juniors straight up to the elite,” he added.
Having contested both the Sprint and Keirin quarterfinals in Paris, Paul expressed an even deeper desire to improve his standards going forward, especially after watching Australian Matthew Richardson and Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen erase his previous world record of 9.100 in the flying 200 metres.
Lavreysen stopped the clock at 9.088 seconds, mere minutes after Richardson clocked 9.091 seconds.
“It (the quarterfinals) was not the outcome I wanted, but you live, you learn, and you come again. But I’m happy for Harrie. That was a great ride, and at the same time, it’s giving me more hunger to get back on that length to be able to break the world record and get that fast again,” Paul noted.
However, for now, the 25-year-old pointed out that the focus is on rest and recovery ahead of his next major assignment, the UCI Track World Championships scheduled for October 16-20 in Denmark.
“I think I’ll back off a bit, have a bit of a rest, and then go into Worlds. I’m really hungry, but at the same time, the build was until Paris. It was a bit stressful, so I have to ease off and then go into Worlds with as much form as possible,” Paul said.
On that note, Paul also expressed gratitude for the support from Trinidad and Tobago’s sporting enthusiasts, though some comments were not welcoming of the athletes’ overall efforts in Paris.
“I never think about the negatives because we could only work with the positives, and we have a lot of positives to work with. Moving forward, us athletes should come together and try to make Trinidad and Tobago better as a whole. Athletics, cycling, and every sport; to raise the level not only in Trinidad and Tobago, but in the Caribbean,” he ended.
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