Olympic triathlon hope will race at Parliament Hill this weekend and says hes not ruled out racing at the World Cross despite prioritising his swim-bike-run ambitions

Most competitors at the London International Cross Country on Saturday will enjoy an easy day before the race. Not Hugo Milner. With Olympic triathlon selection his main goal in 2024, the Derby AC athlete will be up at 5.30am as usual on Friday for a two-hour swim followed by a 90-minute bike ride and an easy 10km run. Five-hour training days have become the norm, he says.

I used to have every Friday off as a runner, he adds. But not any more. I think I had one day off during the whole of last year!

The 25-year-old won the Liverpool Cross Challenge in style in November before placing fourth in the mens race at the European Championships in Brussels. Primarily a triathlete, he is poised to go to Australia for a swim-bike-run training camp later this month. But he has not completely ruled out the idea of racing at the World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, on March 30.

The senior winners at Parliament Hill will gain automatic selection for Serbia, although Milner has already qualified for the World Cross team courtesy of his fine performance in Brussels last month.

On the World Cross, he says: Its a tricky one as one of the World Cups for triathlon is on the same day so its probably not in my interests to run in the World Cross. But I love cross country and Im still open to it depending on how the first few races of my season go and how things pan out. Theres always the possibility. After my run at the Euro Cross, technically I should be able to do the World Cross if I want to. But Ive not fully decided yet.

Cross country is always a passion for me. I went to the World Cross as a junior and would love to experience it as a senior. On a tough muddy course then I think some Europeans could challenge the Kenyans and Ethiopians.

Triathlon selection for the Olympics has already seen Alex Yee and Beth Potter picked for Paris, but there is a battle behind for the remaining spots with selectors basing their decisions primarily on upcoming World Triathlon Championship Series events in Abu Dhabi (March 8-9), Yokohama (May 11) and Cagliari (May 25-26). For Milner, he has the added challenge of trying to gain enough world ranking points to actually get into the Abu Dhabi race in the first place.

Milner, who studied at the prestigious Harvard University before returning to his current base in Derby, showed his triathlon ability in October when he won a World Triathlon Cup race in Miyazaki. He started the 10km leg around a minute down on his rivals but ran them down in the closing stages.

No one would have thought Id have been in this situation a few months ago, he says. Making Paris wasnt seen as being realistic. But the last few months have gone well and Ive shown that I can be one of the best runners in World Triathlon. Most of these triathlons come down to run races too. Im now in a mad rush in the next few months to try to qualify.

There are also places in the mixed relay triathlon team for the Olympics with the squad set to be picked in June. If he doesnt qualify, Milner could try to make the athletics team instead.

Im trying to keep the running options open. If I dont qualify for triathlon for the Olympics then I could still qualify for running. The triathlon cut off for selection is the end of May. I could potentially go for the standard in a 5000m (13:05.00) or 10,000m (27:00.00) in June. I dont want to limit my options to triathlon entirely.

He accepts the track qualifying marks are frighteningly fast and for him to break one would be astronomical, but says: People think the standards are unrealistic and crazy but if you do the training with all the threshold and Norwegian method and such techniques then it is possible to run those kind of times.

One things for sure, his PBs of 13:44.46 for 5000m and 28:36.95 for 10,000m are due a serious revision.

After Parliament Hill this weekend, his first triathlon race of the year is on February 23. I just need to focus on what I can do and stay injury free, he says.