He’s an Olympic silver medallist, two-time World Champion and one of the most successful ITU triathletes to date, but he’s not done yet. Spain’s Javier Gomez currently sits first on the World Triathlon Series leaderboard in the hunt for his third World Championship title. This week, he shares some training tips and lets us in on a few of his favourite things.

What is your favourite ITU race?
It’s hard to choose only one. Probably Yokohama is one of my favourite courses now-a-days. I also like Hamburg. The atmosphere is just amazing. The spectators are crazy there. It’s really nice. But I think after this year, I will say Kitzbuehel.

Tell us about your first triathlon.
It was back in 1998, a very long time ago close to my home town. I had no idea about triathlon. I was just a swimmer. It was an Olympic distance one. It was a pretty tough experience, but I really enjoyed it.

What do you enjoy doing outside of triathlon?
Many things, mainly being with friends and family. This year I was only at home for four or five days. It’s good to get back home and see my friends. I also like to play guitar, but I’m not very good.

What’s your favourite and least favourite training activity?
It depends on the time of year, but when I’m fit I really like track sessions and to run when it goes well. Obviously when you have a bad day, you hate them. But running 1k’s or 1500s on the track is one of my favourites. My least favourite is those rainy, cold days you have to do three plus hours on the bike. That’s tough.

What’s the top triathlon tip you’d give to age groupers?
First of all, just try to enjoy the races and get a coach and a good group for training. It helps a lot to have a group of people to go out and train with every day. And listen to your coach.