Team England's Sophie Coldwell has admitted that she was left with mixed feelings following her sixth-place finish in the women's triathlon at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The 23-year-old was part of a cluster of triathletes competing for the bronze medal heading into the 5km run, but ultimately fell away and finished 31 seconds adrift of a podium place.
However, Coldwell believes that the experience at her first Commonwealths will prove valuable going forward, and also hailed the influence of teammates Jess Learmonth and Vicky Holland - who finished second and fourth respectively - in helping to spur her on.
"It's a mixture of being pleased and disappointed. I was disappointed not to make the breakout swim. I literally just missed that by about five seconds, but I had a good run so I finished sixth and probably so I can't be too disappointed," she told Sports Mole.
"[The experience will be] massive. Everything from being out here in Australia for a month, training somewhere different for a month, then dropping into the village experience - I've never done that before so it's a learning curve for me going forward.
"Vicky's very experienced, she's got multiple medals at major championships so it's been really good having her on the team and Jess has obviously had a breakthrough last year, so it's been great learning from the pair of them."
The triathlon was raced over a sprint distance for the first time at these Commonwealths - half the length of an Olympic triathlon - and Coldwell admitted that she was thankful for that on a sweltering day on the Gold Coast.
"[I have] mixed feelings [about the sprint]. Sometimes I prefer it but sometimes you much prefer the longer race. I think in the heat today I prefer the sprint," she added.
Coldwell must now wait to see whether she will be part of the mixed team relay, which takes place on Saturday.
Barney Corkhill
