MATT POOLES IT TOGETHER FOR STUNNING UPSET

Poole stuns Eckstein to claim upset ironman series victory

ECSTATIC ironman series champ Matt Poole says he finally scaled his sporting Everest by achieving his goal of claiming the Nutri-Grain series crown yesterday.

Poole beat nine-time series champion and the man widely acknowledged as the sport’s greatest of all time, Shannon Eckstein, in an eliminator final match-race to claim his first ironman crown a year after his hopes were cruelly shattered. Locked together on top of the series ladder heading into yesterday’s final eliminator round at North Cronulla, both Poole and Eckstein survived the opening two culls to set up a thrilling head-to-head duel.

Poole won the race, beating Eckstein in a sprint up the beach and could hardly contain his emotion after what has been a decade-long chase for the crown.

“I’ve had such a funny career – injuries, brain explosions, bad luck, I’ve made highlight reels, done the pink hair, punched surf skis, I’ve done it all – but there’s no doubt about it, winning a series tops everything for me,’’ Poole said yesterday.

“You can’t describe this feeling, this is 10 years of emotion building up to this point.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve envisioned in my head what it would be like to cross the finish line and win my own series. For me, this is my Super Bowl, this is my Wimbledon, this is my grand final, this is the world for me.’’

And to be able to beat Eckstein in the such a tight race just made it all the more sweet for Poole.

“For me it was perfect, all I wanted was to win that final race,’’ Poole said.

“You’d love to go into the final (race) with a couple of buffer points up your sleeve but to be locked in the pointscore and going into an eliminator format with Shannon, I don’t think he’s lost one in the last five years.

“I had to take a step back and say, ‘He’s in his element here and I’ve had a great season, so whatever happens, happens. I was just trying to unload some of that pressure from myself and get through today.’’

Poole, who charged back to finish fourth in last year’s series despite losing any chance of the title in the first weekend, admitted to a restless night’s sleep on Saturday as he prepared to face Eckstein.

He said that in a weekend of racing, the series title came down to a matter of centimetres.

“I can honestly say it came down to less than half a metre,’’ he said.

“If (Eckstein) had’ve stood up half a footstep in front of me, I daresay he would have got to that finish line.

“Today was my day.’’