Beth Potter is on a mission to surround herself with the best of the best ahead of Paris 2024 - and training with Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee might just be the trick.

The steely Scot, 32, secured her spot at a second Olympic Games following a golden 2023 which saw her crowned world triathlon champion for the first time.

Potter competed at Rio 2016 as a 10,000m runner, but turned to triathlon a year later after watching Alistair Brownlee give up the chance to win a World Triathlon Series event in Mexico to help his dazed brother, Jonny, across the line.

“When Jonny collapsed and Alistair carried him across the line, I thought, ‘I want to do that sport,’” said Potter.

“It was such a moment of sportsmanship and brotherly love, and I wanted to go and train with them and thought about how I could get there.”

The seed has already been planted by that stage. Just six days after she finished 34th in the 10,000m event that summer, Potter felt an awakening while watching the Brownlee’s light up Brazil - as Alastair won his second Olympic gold, and Jonny won a silver to go with his London 2012 bronze.

“I watched them in Rio while sat drinking out of a coconut on the Copacabana,” the Glaswegian recalled.

“I then met two of the coaches in McDonald’s and spoke about the opportunity of going up to Leeds which is where it sparked.

“I always thought about it and I think some people wanted me to do it earlier than I did, but I wanted to see how good I could get on the track first.

“I train a lot with the brothers and I’ve always said if you surround yourself with those kinds of people, then you will achieve really good things.

“They turn up whatever the weather and get the job done. If you have that in training it feeds into consistency in races and I feel like that was starting to shine through in my performances last year.”

Potter upended her life in 2017, moving to Leeds to train alongside the brothers, but stops short of saying it was a sacrifice.  

Continually on the rise since then, Potter's swim, bike, run career took off in 2023 - as she was crowned world champion and won the Olympic Test Event in Paris.

And Potter revealed that beating home favourite Cassandre Beaugrand on the streets of the French capital has only fuelled her confidence level ahead of her return to the Olympic scene this summer. 

She added: "I know that Cassandra is going to be the one to beat but hopefully her being the home athlete takes a little bit of pressure off me, so I can just go there and not necessarily have the weight of a nation on my shoulders.

"I think it gives me a lot of confidence having won there already last season. 

"The way I won in Paris was not the typical way for me to win a race, leading up to a sprint finish with one of the best runners on the circuit and her strengths are a bit more in the fast twitch stuff so to beat her gave me the confidence to win that way and in a different scenario. 

"That was probably the race that I was least expecting to win, so to do it that way, in that style, on her home turf was great." 

Potter will be joined by two-time Olympic medallists Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown this summer, whilst Sam Dickinson and Kate Waugh are set to make their Olympic debuts in Paris.

And after the doubts of many were on her tail following her switch to triathlon, Potter can finally say that she is once again an Olympian.

"Making a second team and in a second sport is really special so, I'm looking forward to a proper Olympic year once again," she said.

"Rio is a tough memory because I was so ill and not able to compete at my best so I just really hope that I can get that right next year and be 100% healthy to get the best out of myself. 

"A couple years ago, people might have thought it was completely ridiculous to be thinking that I wanted to go to another Olympics in triathlon, but I've always secretly backed myself. 

“I believe I am one of the favourites now.

“Winning the world title has taken the pressure off a little bit. I know I’m good enough to do it."

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