Tokyo 2020: Third Games for triathlete Vicky Holland and Olympic debut for judoka Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz during busy day of action
Triathlete Vicky Holland became a three-time Olympian and judoka Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz made her Games debut during a busy Tuesday for University of Bath-based sportspeople at Tokyo 2020.
Rio 2016 medallist Holland, who trains with the British Triathlon Bath National Performance Centre at the Team Bath Sports Training Village, finished 13th in an eventful women’s final that was affected by high winds and heavy rain after Typhoon Nepartak hit Tokyo in the early hours of the morning.
Team GB team-mate Georgia Taylor-Brown managed to recover from an in-race puncture to win silver and afterwards thanked Holland, who had made her Olympic debut at London 2012, for her support and guidance in the build-up to the Games.
“We’ve got Vicky here who’s a medallist from Rio and now a three-time Olympian,” said Taylor-Brown. “She’s given us so much knowledge coming into this and tips and tricks. It’s amazing to just have her there.”
Making her first Olympic appearance at the Nippon Budokan, the spiritual home of judo, was Team Bath’s Awiti-Alcaraz, flying the flag for Mexico in the -63kg division.
The University of Bath Sports Performance graduate had a hard-fought, evenly-matched contest against Mongolia’s Gankhaich Bold in the first round which went into golden score before Awiti-Alcaraz was edged out by Ippon, meaning she ranked 17th overall.
Continuing to make excellent progress on the tennis courts was Liam Broady, who is coached by Team Bath Tennis’s Dave Sammel. He was a late call-up to the men’s singles but is now into the third round after a superb 7-5 3-6 6-3 win against Wimbledon semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz of Poland. Up next for Broady on Wednesday is France’s Jeremy Chardy.
Twenty sportspeople who train at the Team Bath Sports Training Village are competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games, as well as 12 University of Bath graduates. Click here to follow their progress.
Picture of Vicky Holland – credit: Matsuo .K/AFLO SPORT/Alamy Live News
