Scotland

The 31-year-old Scot won the Games test event in the French capital last month and a top-three finish at the World Triathlon Championship Finals in Spain on Sunday would see her meet the selection criteria for the British team.

Whether she qualifies this weekend or not, there seems little doubt Potter will be part of the British line-up next summer, joining a notable list of athletes who have competed at the Olympics in two different sports.

It was after using her summer holidays from her day job as a physics teacher to race in the 10,000 metres in Rio in 2016 that Potter decided to throw her eggs in the triathlon basket.

“I think I probably had doubts until last year,” she told the PA news agency.

“It’s been really hard. I think those around me, the guys I train with, my boyfriend and my mum and dad, will know how hard it’s been. Even that first year I was in Leeds I probably spent every day pretty upset and wondering whether I’d made the right choice. I think I probably cried every day.”

Potter used family motivation to keep her going, saying: “I always did know it was never going to happen overnight, these things never do, it always takes four or five years.

“It was in line with my sister finishing her medical degree in Sheffield. I gave myself until then, if I’m not making a living out of it by then or things are just not going how I thought they would then I’ll probably just quit and go back to the day job. Luckily I beat her to that. She’s just finished her training.”

Potter grew up doing swimming alongside her athletics but she was a cycling novice when she made the transition to triathlon aged 25.

“It’s not as easy to pick up skills like that as an adult because you have the fear, you know what’s going to happen if you come off,” she said. “It’s not like a kid where you just bounce off the ground. You know you’re going to hurt yourself.

“There was just a lot of doubt. I found that quite hard, constantly trying to believe in myself and constantly be like, it is going to work, I’m just not quite there yet. Getting to grips with a completely different sport.

“It was a very steep learning curve. Getting thrown into the world series and drowning, basically, way out of my depth. There was one way that I could race. If I had an easy swim and an easy bike then that would be fine.

“The way racing has been the last couple of years it’s not been ideal for me but now I’ve got my bike and my swim up to those levels, I’m trying to turn myself into an all-round athlete that can win from any position.

“It’s been quite good this year how I’ve managed to win and get on the podium in different events and in different race scenarios.”

Potter has put together a brilliant 2023 campaign, winning world series races in Abu Dhabi and Montreal and then getting the better of big French rival Cassandre Beaugrand in a head-to-head finish at the test event.

A repeat in Pontevedra would see the winner crowned world champion, although Potter’s main target remains booking her spot in Paris.

“My goal at the start of the season was to qualify for the Olympics,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting to be in the running for the world title. I knew I could be up there but I didn’t expect it to come down to the wire.

“It’s a bit of a chicken and egg where I think if I just focus on doing the little things right, I’ll probably get the Olympic qualification and finish wherever on the podium.”

Olympic silver medallist Alex Yee is in the running for the men’s title having also won the test event, and the British team look well positioned to continue their brilliant run of success in the sport next summer.

Potter is currently the leading woman in the absence of the injured Georgia Taylor-Brown, individual silver medallist in Tokyo, and her gold medal-winning mixed relay team-mate Jess Learmonth, who recently gave birth to her first child.

Potter praised the coaches in Leeds who have kept the faith through the last six years that her move to triathlon would pay off.

“They’ve stuck by me through thick and thin so I owe it to them because they believed when I was nothing,” she said. “They can see a reward now hopefully. It was a bit bonkers to do it but I definitely think it’s been the right decision.”

The 23rd edition of the Commonwealth Games will take place in Scotland from Thursday 23 July to Sunday 2 August 2026. Glasgow also hosted the games back in 2014. 

Glasgow 2026 will feature a 10-sport programme concentrated across four venues within an eight-mile corridor, ensuring an action-packed broadcast schedule across each day of competition and making the event accessible and appealing to spectators looking to enjoy the multi-sport environment and festival feel.

With over 500,000 tickets to be made available at a future date, there will be around 3,000 of the best athletes competing from up to 74 Commonwealth nations and territories that represent 2.5 billion people – one-third of the world’s population.

Para sport will once again be fully integrated as a key priority and point of difference for the Games, with six Para sports included on the sport programme.

The sports programme will include Athletics and Para Athletics (Track & Field), Swimming and Para Swimming, Artistic Gymnastics, Track Cycling and Para Track Cycling, Netball, Weightlifting and Para Powerlifting, Boxing, Judo, Bowls and Para Bowls, and 3x3 Basketball and 3x3 Wheelchair Basketball.

The Games will take place across four venues: Scotstoun Stadium, Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Emirates Arena – including the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, and the Scottish Event Campus (SEC). Athletes and support staff will be housed in hotel accommodation.

Commonwealth Games Federation CEO Katie Sadleir NZOM said, ‘’On behalf of the entire Commonwealth Sport Movement, we are delighted to officially confirm that the 2026 Commonwealth Games will take place in the host city of Glasgow. The Games promise to be a truly immersive festival of sport and celebration of culture and diversity that inspires athletes and sports – with a fan experience more accessible than ever before.”

Archibald, an Olympic, world and European champion in various disciplines, took gold in the women’s individual pursuit in Brisbane, having broken the Games record in a blistering qualifying session.

Her only previous Commonwealth medal was the bronze she won on home soil in the points race in Glasgow four years earlier.

Archibald, then aged 24, said before racing began gold was the only colour she wanted and swiftly delivered, covering the 3,000m distance in three minutes 26.088 seconds to beat Australian Rebecca Wiasak.

She had set the record at 3:24.119 in a qualifying session which saw three riders go under the previous record set by England’s Joanna Rowsell Shand in Glasgow.

“It means a lot, especially in the individual pursuit because it’s not an Olympic event,” said Archibald. “2014 always stands out as a big year for Joanna Rowsell to kind of echo, because she had the title and the Games record.

“You look at the success she carried from that point in her career. I’d be very proud.”

Fired up by his sister’s performance, Archibald’s brother John then added another medal to Scotland’s tally with silver in the men’s 4,000m individual pursuit as England’s Charlie Tanfield clinched gold.

“I watched her heat run and the pressure was on her,” said John Archibald.

“The Commonwealth Games record went and they all went better than her personal best so she had her back against the wall but she pulled out and delivered on the day and that got me going.”