British Olympic Triathletes, Marc and Helen Jenkins, announced the birth of their second child Max Edward Jenkins joining Mali (age 21 months) in the sporting household.

Following the birth, the two will be balancing parenting duties, as well as Helen’s return to training and competition, under the supervision of her Marc who coaches her, as she targets the next step of her career, with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics or Ironman Triathlon racing as possible targets. 

The birth was another momentous moment for a partnership that has seen huge sporting success with Helen making three Olympic appearances (2008, 12 and 16) and achieving two World Championships is 2008 and 2011.  

On the birth of her son, Helen commented; “I am feeling very lucky to add Max to our family as a brother for Mali, it was a really special moment. Thankfully, this time it was much easier labour and I was out of the hospital in a day.

She continued “I am really looking forward to returning to training and will hopefully get back to competing in October. Hopefully, I will be able to show Mali and Max what their mum and dad used to do pretty well for a living in these next steps of my career, whatever that looks like after spinal surgery and two kids. I managed to train gently right up until the day prior to giving birth and I hope my body will respond well as I return to hard training’

Fellow Olympian (2004) Marc Jenkins added “We are both excited about adding Max to our family. We are looking forward to the next chapter and sporting wise, seeing if Helen can get back to the level that will show our children what mom and dad do in the sport of triathlon."

Helen, whose planned returned to competition in October, will be her first since also having a similar spinal fusion surgery as Tiger Woods in 2018.