Javier Gomez announces goal to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Javier Gomez (ESP) has recently announced that he will shift his focus to short course racing in 2019, with the objective of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Translated from Spanish on TriatlonChannel.com, Gomez was quoted as saying, “The decision to fight to be in Tokyo 2020 has been mine. I have not had any pressure of any kind. I would like to thank my coach for his support in this decision and my sponsors.”

The 2018 season saw Gomez make the jump from short course and 70.3 racing to the Ironman distance. In his Ironman debut, Gomez finished second to Braden Currie (NZL) at the Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship in Cairns, Australia. He also made his Kona debut and finished 11th in 8:11:41. “I will return to Kona sooner or later. It was a good experience and a challenging race that you have to know, any mistake is paid,” says Gomez.

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Finished my first @ironmantri World Championships in 11th place. Definitely not what I was hoping for, so quite disappointed. A short and simple analysis of the race: I rode harder than I should, to keep up with the group I was in and paid it on the run… big time! I want to thank everyone for the amazing support, sorry I couldn’t do a better race… Lots of things learnt, at least. Will keep working hard to do it better next time. And last, but not least, congrats to the guys at the front for their outstanding performance, especially @patricklange1. / Finalizado mi primer campeonato del mundo Ironman en undécima posición. Sin duda no hice la carrera soñada, por lo que estoy decepcionado. Un análisis rápido y simple: fui más fuerte de lo que debería en bici por aguantar en el grupo que lucharía por la victoria y luego lo pagué corriendo. Y aquí cuando lo pagas lo pagas mucho más que en otras carreras! Quiero agradeceros a todos el apoyo que he tenido para esta carrera y siento no haber podido hacerlo mejor. Pero al menos he aprendido cosas y seguiré trabajando duro para hacerlo mejor la próxima vez. Y por último, felicitar a los compañeros que acabaron en los puesto de honor por los carrerones que han hecho, en especial Patrick Lange.

A post shared by Javier Gómez Noya (@jgomeznoya) on Oct 13, 2018 at 9:02pm PDT

Gomez will likely make his return to short course racing at the World Triathlon Series event in Bermuda (April 27th). “The objective is not the World Cup, although if you get good results you will place well in the rankings,” says Gomez. “I will probably debut in Bermuda and continue with the next two races that are Olympic distance triathlons.”