Triathlete on Canada junior Olympic team
The father of a city athlete was “over the top” proud to watch his son achieve his goal of making the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games team on Saturday, while his tutor is drawing comparisons to an Olympic champion he coached.
Tristen Jones, 16, led a national qualifier in Magog, Que. from start to finish, claiming the lone male position allocated for Canada for triathlon for the international competition coming to Buenos Aires, Argentinafrom Oct. 6 to18.
“He’s a fantastic kid and has worked hard to achieve his dream … when it happened, it was pretty special to watch,” Chris Jones said Wednesday.
Tristen been living in Caledon, northwest of Toronto, for the past six weeks as he trains for a second summer with Barrie Shepley of C3 High Performance. His coach said he executed a “near perfect race” on Saturday.
After exiting the water in the lead, he was among seven athletes who broke away from a pack of 50 in the race, Shepley explained. Off the bike, Tristen sprinted out of the transition zone with the fastest run of the day.
“By 800 metres into the run, Tristen was 150 metres ahead of second place and from there he only got faster,” he wrote in an email. “It was truly amazing to see how powerful and confident he was on qualifying.”
The athlete has already competed in events in Drummondville and Gatineau, Que.c this summer alongside professionals. Tristen has not only dominated his junior category, but knockedoff two-thirds of the pros, Shepley said.
Outside of the Youth Olympic Games, Tristen is also focused on the national elite championships in Kelowna, B.C. on August 19.
“Olympians and Commonwealth Games elite pros will be in Kelowna, so Tristen has a great chance to gain invaluable experience against older pros,” said Shepley, who coached Simon Whitfield to a gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.
Tristen is now doing some of the same level workouts that the a four-time Olympic triathlete did as a 16 year old, he pointed out.
“The journey to the Olympic Games is a long one with many years of sacrifice and right now our goal with Tristen is to keep him healthy, allow him to gain experience in racing and to keep being hungry for the next season ahead.”
The Grade 12 also finished the senior boys 1,500-metre race at the OFSSA track and field championships with a life-time personal best time of three minutes, 58 seconds.
“Not many top high school runners can go under four minutes in the 1,500 metres, and for Tristen as a triathlete to be achieving those run times against specialized only runners is an indication of what a world class young triathlete he is,” Shepley wrote.
The Crestwood Secondary School student has been competing since he was seven.
His mother Wendy, a longtime Crestwood physical education teacher and track and crosscountry coach and graduate, is a world championship triathlete and distance runner. His dad is the head pro at Peterborough Golf and Country Club.