Hot on the heels of Australia's Richelle Hill, the 2025 season rewind continues with the newly crowned Men's U23 World Champion, Britain's rising star Oliver Conway, joining the World Triathlon Podcast this week. Oli looks back over the processes and rapid progressions that helped him soar from Junior European Cups start lines to a first World Cup gold and WTCS debut power moves in the space of twelve short months, all the while juggling the competitions with training schedules and the demands of studying at Nottingham University.
Listen to the full interview on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
Heading in to the off-season as World Champion, it is clear that Oliver Conway is eager to learn from the mistakes of 2023-2024, when frustrations in races boiled over into him training through and suffering mid-season as a result. Of course, it's a much easier sell to hit the brakes for a few weeks if you have a world championship medal in the bedside drawer over the holidays.
'Last year, I think I can only name maybe one or two races that were actually decent. I just think I got quite unlucky. I don't know whether I wasn't really fit enough. I've contemplated quite a lot about last season. I think that's probably why I went into not having an off-season, training straightaway, just because I was quite motivated to show what level I can race at. The last few years I've had a sort of 'blocker' when it comes to the run. I feel like I could have run faster in the race, but I just didn't, for some reason... I couldn't really push myself.'
'I think it probably just came down to fitness. I might have had the running training but off the back of the swim or the bike, I just couldn't really go anywhere near that pace. So I think over the last year I really tried to work on the bike mainly and the swim just to get it up so I can run near the pace I run in training because I'm less fatigued after an easier bike and swim.'
Driving the U23 Championships
There was little evidence of any desire to take it easy in the water or on the bike in October's Championship Finals Wollongong, however, with Conway on the front of the men's U23 title chase for a huge portion of the 40km, having come out of the water right in touch with the fastest swimmers.
'I had to drive that pack because there was Reese Vannerson behind, quite a few faster runners, so obviously I didn't want them to catch up, so I thought the safest position is at the front in the bike. I just thought I might as well try and drive the pack and get as much time as we could. That was my plan from the start. I mean, I thought I'd be in the second pack driving to catch the front, so it's a bonus being front pack, driving the pack instead!'
From that position of strength that he admits even took himself by surprise, Conway knew exactly what he needed to do to see the race out, including what essentially became a solo 10km run to the title.
'I always had the plan of trying to make the hills quite hard, to sort of zap everyone's legs and then hopefully on the run it has zapped mine less... so just getting everyone fatigued going onto the run. I think it worked out well.'
Conway's run prowess was also evident for all to see in his gold on debut at the Saidia World Cup and fourth on WTCS debut in Karlovy Vary, but he doesn't want to become known as a runner. Like compatriot Alex Yee before him, the desire is to become the complete triathlete, able to lead across all three disciplines, and to win from an array of positions.
'That's probably half the reason why in at Worlds. I tried to drive the pack, because I don't really want to be known as someone who can win the race just from the run. I've obviously still got quite a bit to work on in the swim because I'm nowhere near there, I just really try to work on all three so I can be the best and most complete triathlete I can be.'
