ESPS Mentors

Kieran Williams
GB Triathlon

I consider myself very lucky to have had a successful international triathlon career while balancing a full-time profession and subsequent postgraduate research at the University of Sheffield. During my first season competing in triathlon I was fortunate to qualify to represent the Great Britain Age Group Team at both the World Duathlon Championships in Switzerland and the World Triathlon Championships in New Zealand. It was watching the medal ceremony from the audience that I realised that my goal of participating at the world championships was no longer enough and I wanted to be on the podium. So fast forward five years, a great deal of hard work, sacrifice and support, where I was called to the stage in Hamburg, Germany, to collect my gold medal and be crowned Age Group Sprint Triathlon World Champion. Along the journey there were some fantastic highs becoming national champion at the British Sprint Triathlon Championships, representing Great Britain in the Age Group Team at four World and two European Championships, meeting some truly inspirational individuals as well as racing at elite level against the world's best triathletes in London, Windsor and Blenheim. However, it wasn't all roses and there were also times of disappointment, injury and failure.
I couldn't have achieved any of this without the support and understanding of a number of fantastic people, lots of planning, preparation as well as balancing a professional and academic vocation and personal life. I learnt an awful lot about myself and how to realistically achieve elite and international sporting success. It is a real honour to be a mentor as part of the Elite Sports Performance Scheme and together with my enthusiasm, practical approach and passion for sport, I hope to be able to inspire elite athletes to achieve their dreams. The skills, mentality and knowledge that I developed within triathlon are transferrable across sporting boundaries and to be able to impart just some of this to successful athletes on the scheme would be a real privilege.

Kieran Williams
kieran.williams@sheffield.ac.uk
www.kieranwilliams.com

Rachel Elder
GB Orienteering

I have been a member of the British Orienteering Squad for 13 years and have competed in numerous Junior, Student and Senior World Championships. My career highlights to date include two gold and one silver medal in the relay at the World Students, 13th in the Junior Worlds and 23rd in the Worlds. I am current British Middle Distance Orienteering Champion, British Fell Running Relay Champion and Northern Cross Country Team Champion. I compete for South Yorkshire Orienteers, Hallamshire Harriers and Dark Peak Fell Runners.
I have lived in Sheffield for 7 years, completing my PhD in 2007, and I am now a lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Throughout my time as a student and Postdoc I benefited a lot from the Elite Sports scheme and I am looking forward to helping current students towards achieving their sporting dreams.

Rachel Elder
R.Elder@sheffield.ac.uk

Oli Johnson
GB Orienteering

I have been competing as an international level orienteer for 11 years, and my best results include World University bronze in long distance, European champs 17th place in long distance and World champs 20th in middle distance. I have seven British individual titles and 3 relay titles and I am currently British Champion in middle distance. I run for South Yorkshire Orienteers, Dark Peak Fell Runners and Hallamshire Harriers.
Throughout my career I have been based at the University of Sheffield, where I studied as an undergraduate and postgraduate, and where I now work as a British Academy postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies. I have benefited enormously from the support of the Elite Sport Scheme over the years and I look forward to contributing to the sporting success of other talented sportspeople at the University of Sheffield as a performance mentor.

Oli Johnson
O.Johnson@sheffield.ac.uk