Elite athletes, who happen to be university students, eagerly squeeze the juice out of every waking hour.
Training blocks and study blocks, race finals and final exams, unbroken streams of preparation for both, the obligations can be taxing.
Fatigue is a given — so is hearing a well-meaning chorus about the importance of time management, goal-setting and discipline.
None of which comes as news. Those reminders are redundant, according Isla Britton, Canadian triathlete and University of Edinburgh student, “because you already have those (attributes) just from being an athlete.”
So, for performers sweating through never-ending commitments, including post-secondary education, what is the key to life-balance success?
“I would say being very kind to yourself — that’s something people forget,” says Britton, who was born in Montreal. “It’s being kind to myself and reminding myself that I’m doing my best at both sides. And you’re not trying to chase two things — they can actually play into each other. For me, I like having that outlet of my academic studies to switch off from training, then switching back into it.
“It really works for me.”
Sound advice. Britton soon enters her fourth year of the medical science honours program at one of the world’s top universities.
She also volunteers. Triathlon Scotland recently named Britton its Young Coach of the Year. “Which was really cool.”
Even when free from university coursework during the summer months, there’s no slowing down for the 21-year-old, who likes to set a blistering pace.
Immediately after final exams, she signed up for three stops on the Continental Cup circuit, two in Poland and one in Austria. Advancing to two semifinals and one final meant five races in two and a half weeks.
“My summer’s been pretty exciting,” says Britton, who also travelled to Montreal and trained alongside Emy Legault, who was fine-tuning for the Olympics. “I got to hop in and do some sessions with Emy, which was super cool and very inspiring.”
She found time, too, to whip through a couple of events in Canada before flying back for the FISU World University Championships in Gdańsk, Poland.
Last Friday, Britton paced the Canadian elite women’s contingent, placing 20th on the sprint course — 750-metre swim, 19.6-kilometre cycle, five-kilometre run. Finishing 55th was Juliette Chenail-Lafond (Université de Montréal), followed by Jordyn Bandstra (Canadian Academy of Osteopathy) at 62nd, and Saoirse Kealey (Carleton University) at 63rd.
On the elite men’s side, Daniel Damian (University of Victoria) was the top Canadian at 14th. Next were Hayden Woodrow (University of Victoria), 28th, Nicolas Bolouri (McGill University), 47th, and Nathan Drouillard (University of Windsor), 71st.
Canada’s mixed relay team got 10th on Saturday.
No different than Britton — or any other student-athlete — Damian is very aware of the challenges of blending an athletic endeavour with an academic commitment.
Studying at the University of Victoria — where he’s a member of the Vikes’ cross-country and track teams — Damian says the backbone to a healthy balance is support.
“Surround yourself with the right people,” says Damian, going into the fourth year of his neurobiology degree. “That’s why being part of the team is awesome. Because everyone has to spend a couple hours doing homework, even when you’re not at home and you’re racing.”
For the 21-year-old, there has been a transition. When he first showed up on campus, there were fellow competitors eager to assist. “I had an older athlete who was in the same program, and she’d always help me out,” says Damian, who has evolved into a mentor himself. “At this point, I’m the one helping out. So that’s always super awesome.”
Despite triathlon success — and time-management mastery at the university level — Damian and Britton are not carbon copies.
Daughter of pavement-pounding parents, Britton got her race legs early.
As a little girl she had been keen to follow Mom and Dad into marathons. That distance was discouraged, but she was only seven when she completed her first triathlon.
“I loved it. It’s all I wanted to do,” says Britton. “I love challenging myself. I love pushing myself to be better.
“I’ve been doing it for a long time. Many years.”
Damian, on the other hand, had been a soccer player with promise. It wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic, with team sports shutting down, that he considered triathlon. “And I found out I was a little better at it than I was at soccer.”
Damian’s first serious race was recent — the 2022 Canada Summer Games, staged in the Niagara Region of Ontario, where, competing in the male super sprint, he’d earned a silver medal and an appreciation of triathlon.
“There’s lots of opportunity for improvement because it is three sports in one,” says Victoria native, whose first exposure to racing overseas took place only a year ago. “In triathlon, you’re meeting new people all the time. You’re part of the running community, you’re part of the cycling community. So there’s always people to train with.”
Productive the classroom, too, Damian and Britton are in the home stretches of their degrees. Graduate studies isn’t out of the question for either of them.
But also high on their to-do lists — not surprisingly — is qualifying for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
“It’s been the goal since I started,” says Damian, U23 national champion in 2023. “That’s what we’ve been working towards. Paris was too soon — I was too young — but now I have a few years to go hard and try to make L.A.”
For Britton, who previously represented Canada at the World Junior Championships, her appetite had been whet while working out with Legault, who wound up 35th in Paris.
“It was super motivating to watch someone in my training group go to the Games,” she says. “I really hope I get there one day.”