By Tom Harle, Sportsbeat
Alistair Brownlee warned that climate change will soon make triathlon impractical in its current form.
At the Paris Olympics, triathletes were plunged into a debate about the degradation of water quality and rising global temperatures.
With global heating making temperatures 3C warmer, the two-time Olympic gold medallist foresees that his sport will soon have to change or be changed.
“The impact on winter sport is really obvious and tangible, but it’s the same in triathlon as well,” said Brownlee.
“As the European summer gets hotter, it becomes less feasible to stage triathlons, there are fewer times, cities and locations where you can have it.
“It produces a whole range of challenges.”
Brownlee will swim in an excellent quality of water at this weekend’s Ibiza T100 World Tour race, where the Professional Triathletes Organisation are staging a mass ‘Swim for Sustainability.’
Where and when to watch the Ibiza T100 this weekend 🙌
— T100 Triathlon World Tour (@t100triathlon) September 25, 2024
Men's race start: 8am local time ⏰
Women's race start: 10.30am local time ⏰
📲 MORE INFO: https://t.co/WBTiKqSKQQ pic.twitter.com/l4ylzpcXRj
But the 36-year-old insists that the issues that dogged the River Seine at the Games are not going away any time soon.
“It’s an interesting trade-off,” said Brownlee. “If you want events in European city centres, with amazing crowds, the trade-off for that is not having total clarity on how good the water is.
“There aren’t many cities that have really fresh bodies of water running through the middle of them. I think that’s the bigger problem.”
Brownlee certainly walks the talk when it comes to sustainability, having invested in a startup ‘Treepoints’ that has aimed to lead the fight against climate change by planting 67 million trees.
He audits his carbon footprint on an annual basis and his home is covered in a mass of solar panels and batteries, with an electric car sitting in the driveway.
“It has a double benefit, the ecological side of things and being a tight Yorkshireman, not having to pay for electricity or gas,” he jokes.
Brownlee’s earliest memories are of exploring the stunning natural environment of the Yorkshire Dales with his brother Jonny.
The 36-year-old admits he struggles to come to terms with the emissions endemic in global sport.
“It’s an interesting juxtaposition,” said Brownlee. “I’m someone who is really motivated and inspired by training in the natural environment around me and meeting climate and ecological challenges is really important.
“But at the same time, we have to be honest that professional sport is a struggle in terms of our carbon and targets. There’s no other way of putting it, we travel around the world for events, and we have to be honest about that.”
Brownlee, who is an emerging sports politician, is as sickened by the state of Britain’s waterways as the rest of the public, particularly the discharge of raw sewage.
“It shouldn't happen,” he said. “I would love people to be able to go swimming in every waterway in the country, we saw a massive explosion of it during Covid.
“It’s an enormous infrastructure problem and it’s very sad. We saw how high profile it became during Paris and maybe that’s one of the positives we can take, that sports events can highlight the issues and try to encourage investment in this area.”
Watch the Ibiza T100 Triathlon races live in Europe on Eurosport 2. Broadcast for the men is from 0745 UK, with the race starting at 0800 and then the women dive in at 1030. Both Ibiza T100 races and behind-the-scenes content can be watched live and for free on PTO+ from anywhere.
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