All-rounder looks forward to a beer after his exploits in three sports
Dan Halksworth has worked up a thirst in a remarkable career, he tells Ben Bloom
Back when he was a university student, Dan Halksworth aspired to compete at the Olympics. It was not a far-fetched dream, Halksworth was 18 when he became Jersey’s first ever Commonwealth Youth Games champion and he saw no reason why he could not step up as a swimmer into the senior ranks.
It never quite happened: the closest he came was to finish fifth at the British Olympic trials. But on a baking hot morning in the Gold Coast suburb of Currumbin, he made a small piece of history by becoming the first person to compete in three different sports at three Commonwealth Games: swimming in 2006, triathlon in 2014 and cycling four years later.
“Every kid’s dream is to go to the Olympics. I didn’t quite get there but I can’t complain,” Halksworth, 32, told Telegraph Sport.
“I won Ironmans [endurance triathlons] and went to three Commonwealth Games so I’m happy, really happy.
“I’ve done something that no one has ever done before and I’ve done it from a really small island.
“We don’t have the facilities or coaches or things like that to be able to compete with the big names out there. So I’m really proud.”
Halksworth’s Commonwealth Games debut in 2006 was also the final swimming competition of his career.
He entered both medleys but failed to advance from the heats and decided life in the pool was not his calling.
Eager for a change, he tried his luck at triathlon and excelled to such an extent that he turned professional over the gruelling Ironman event. Returning to Commonwealth Games action at Glasgow 2014, he was third behind Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee after the first two legs of the triathlon but faded to finish 17th. One final career change beckoned.
The switch to road cycling was not taken to better himself, but was necessitated by the realities of life: namely, the need to pay off a mortgage on his house in Jersey.
“I put a lot of work into the house and decided that I wanted to have a proper home and a future,” he said. “I wasn’t going to have time to continue with triathlon, so I decided to focus on one sport.
“I’ve got a job working for my dad and I don’t do more than 15 hours a week training so it’s completely different to when I was training full time.
“I’ve enjoyed the last couple of years. It’s been nice and relaxing. I
‘You’ve got to have that burning desire inside you to want to do well and want to race’
never really had a social life at all when I was racing Ironmans.
“I’ve got a lot more time on my hands now so I’ve definitely got a better balance in life and I’m a lot happier with things. But I can’t compete against these guys who are racing full time.”
At the start of the year, he had been so far from achieving the selection criteria that he wondered if it was worthwhile even continuing in his campaign. Only the encouragement of his coach persuaded Halksworth to battle on.
Then, even when heading into yesterday’s time trial, he had reckoned he was “massively” out of his depth and was hoping merely not to embarrass himself.
Far from it. Instead Halksworth crossed the line 26th out of 54 starters and finished with a smile on his face.
He will compete again in Saturday’s road race and then put his bike away for good. Retirement beckons and he has no plans to return in a fourth sport at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
“This is it for me,” he said. “I’ve been going for a long time now, doing lots of different sports. It’s been a long career. I just want to sit back and enjoy myself, hopefully have kids in the future and put everything into being a good dad.
“You’ve got to have that burning desire inside you to want to do well and want to race. I’ve been racing since I was eight years old and I’m not quite sure if it’s 100 per cent there any more.
“Maybe I could come back and do something in 10 or 15 years once my kids are grown up. Who knows? But I’m just looking forward to sitting down and having a beer.”