Bryan Keane back in top gear ahead of Rio Games

Bryan Keane insists that he won’t let the nightmare crash that ruined his London Olympic dream affect his preparations for this summer’s Games in Rio.

The Corkman finally booked his ticket for Rio last month, accomplishing a long and challenging mission after his efforts to reach the 2012 Games were dashed when he was hit by a car during cycling training two years out from that competition.

The crash left him with a shattered kneecap, which severely scuppered his brave attempt to recover in time for that year’s Olympics, but he bounced back to reach this summer’s Games by finishing inside the world’s top 55 with a 20th-place finish at the final selection event in Yokohama last month.

Keane and fellow Olympian Aileen Reid will compete in three events prior to the Games, with World Series fixtures set for Stockholm and Hamburg next month, but the 36-year-old insists he won’t be holding back in his preparation for Brazil.

“You can’t wrap yourself up in cotton wool. There’s certain risks or precautions — things that you don’t do — but you’re going to be out on the road training all the time anyway,” explained Keane, who shrugged off a minor fall he suffered after a brief crash in France during training recently.

“There are risks in training, that’s just how it is — you just get on with it. I’ve got eight weeks now until my race so that’s two good quality [preparation] blocks and a taper so it should be fine. It doesn’t sound like a whole heap of time but in terms of racing it is and training-wise it’s quite a bit of time,” he added.

Both Keane and Reid emerged victorious from City of Derry Triathlon events last weekend and the win was an ideal send-off for the latter in her home city.

“I got to go up and stay with my mammy in the house and it’s where I started triathlon… so it was very nice to be back at home,” said 34-year-old Reid, who is back in full training after illness upset her preparations last winter.

“I feel like I’m fit, I just feel like I’m not very fast yet and we’ve still got eight weeks before we hit the start line. I’ve three races to give me a chance to work on that shorter, sharper, faster stuff so hopefully we’re nearly there,” continued Reid.

“I think a lot of people want to go and they’re just ready now [for Rio] but I feel like I need the training time and a handful of races to sharpen up.

“A lot of the time we’ll have little mini-simulation races too so those are great for preparation,” added the two-time Olympian. Reid finished a disappointing 43rd place in London after recovering from a bike crash and while she has been left playing catch-up in her training, Triathlon Ireland president Lochlann Walsh insisted that both she and Keane are primed to peak in Rio. “It’s really to bring them up to a peak so when they hit the line in Rio not only do they have the physical [fitness] but they have that mental confidence that they’ve been trained absolutely correctly,” said Walsh.