Oliver Conway says teaming up with his sporting inspiration Jonny Brownlee helped him become Under-23 World Triathlon champion.
Conway says watching Brownlee claim triathlon bronze behind his gold medal-winning brother Alistair at the 2012 London Olympic Games convinced him, at the age of eight, to take up the sport.
More than a decade later, Conway is now one of Britain’s finest.
The rise of the 20-year-old earned him a place with Brownlee Racing, a Supertri League team headed by Jonny – who claimed Olympic silver in 2016 and mixed relay gold at Tokyo 2020.
“It’s crazy to race alongside Jonny after looking up to him for so many years, and I still do,” Conway told BBC East Midlands Today.
“That has also helped me gain the confidence that I can race against some of the best.”
Conway, who juggles his training at the University of Nottingham with his studies in mechanical engineering, capped a stellar 2025 season with a dominant Under-23 World Triathlon Championship victory in Wollongong, Australia, in October.
He crossed the line in one hour, 22 minutes and 54 seconds to win the the global crown by 99 seconds.
After a strong swim and cycle, Conway stayed in touch and ran an incredible 10km of 29:35 to cap off a superb performance.
Conway said he felt as though he had been building toward the crowning moment for 12 months since finishing eighth at the junior category of the 2024 World Triathlon Championships.
“That gave me a lot of motivation going into this year to prove what performances I could really put out there,” he said.
“Race by race this year I gained confidence and got better and better.”
Oxford-born Conway has since been added to British Triathlon’s world class programme, which is designed to support athletes in their quest to reach the Olympics.
Conway says he still sees himself as a “long shot” to make it to the Los Angeles Games in 2028, but University of Nottingham performance coach Steve Lloyd insists that “LA and beyond is where his target should be”.
