Top British triathlete Kat Matthews is using tips from England hockey’s stars in bid to raise the game in her sport.
Matthews, second at last year’s Ironman World Championship, is an army physio and now the fastest female long-distance athlete in the world.
She is also a former junior hockey player, having starred for West of England’s under-17s with Giselle Ansley and Maddie Hinch.
But the 31-year-old took the decision to drop hockey when triathlon became a potential career path, while she also became an army physiotherapist at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Matthews is now using her former hockey team-mates’ motivation as Olympic and Commonwealth champions for her triathlon pursuits to the top.
“Absolutely, I take inspiration from that,” she said. “Her book of tactics is notorious and seeing things like that it draws you into your own sport.
“Somebody who you can relate to is using these key tactical and really thought-out processes, why not bring that into my sport?
“So, I’m looking at my competitors. I’m looking at the bike course in detail. I’m trying to be a forward thinker rather than just looking at what everyone else is doing and sort of copying that.”
