Ritchie Nicholls and Catriona Morrison in the frame to shine for Scotland

Much is expected of British triathlon's current crop of high-achievers. Much has already been delivered.

Last month Jonny Brownlee, just 20, won the world sprint-distance title, joining his elder brother Alistair as a reigning global champion. There are others following in their wake, the strength of domestic competition forcing everyone to raise their game.

Ritchie Nicholls shared the same trajectory as the siblings from Leeds, his potential singled out when he won the European Under-23 title at the age of 19, finishing fourth in the world event months later. Now aged 23, he insists it is premature to talk of what-ifs and maybes. Yet the Scot goes into today's GE World Duathlon Championships in Edinburgh needing to re-announce himself as a genuine contender. It has been a struggle to regain his former belief, he admits. In hindsight, he simply stalled when his Australian coach left his base in Swansea to return home. "That disrupted things. I just lost momentum."

For a winter, he worked under Liz McColgan within her Dundee-based running group, focusing wholly on one event rather than three. "Even though I decided to go back to triathlon, I learnt a lot from it." That endurance will serve him well this afternoon on a gruelling course that comprises 10 and five-kilometre runs on each side of seven punishing cycling circuits around Arthur's Seat. It has not harmed his chances that the proximity of next weekend's world triathlon final in Budapest means the Brownlees and their ilk have passed Edinburgh up.

"I'd hope that if I'm up there at the end of the bike stage, then I'm in with a shot to win."

So too is Catriona Morrison. The Scot, now 33, has temporarily put her bid for domination at the Ironman distance on hold to pursue a fourth world duathlon crown.

World Duathlon Championships (Edinburgh). Junior Women (8am), Junior Men (10am), Elite/Under-23 women (12pm), Elite/Under-23 Men (3pm).