Kyle Smith wins gold at world champs
‘‘I had no idea I was capable of that result and this being only my second cross tri race I was pretty relaxed with little focus on the outcome.’’
Young New Zealand triathlete Kyle Smith is celebrating a world title after he won the under-23 division at the ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships in Canada recently.
Smith, from Matamata, finished third overall in the elite men’s final in Penticton, and in doing so also secured the under23 crown.
Cross triathlon is an off-road variation of triathlon, where the swim is followed by a mountain bike leg and then a trail run, and Smith moved to this version to further improve his skills in triathlon.
The Kiwi led the field - stacked with former world championship medallists - out of the 1.5km swim in Okanagan Lake, in a time of 20 minutes and 15 seconds.
He then had the fifth fastest bike time, of 01:18:17 on the 31km single track trails through the forests, and the sixth fastest run time of 29:46 over the 8km of rolling hills and winding trails.
He was able to break away late from Australia’s Ben Allen to get on the podium, finishing in a time of 02:10:16 - 40 seconds behind Spain’s Ruben Ruzafa and 51 seconds off winner Francisco Serrano of Mexico, but nearly four minutes ahead of the next best of the four other under-23 competitors in the field.
Smith was delighted with a performance which surpassed even his own expectations.
‘‘I’m stoked beyond words with the result,’’ he said.
‘‘I had no idea I was capable of that result and this being only my second cross tri race I was pretty relaxed with little focus on the outcome and just wanted to enjoy the experience racing with the big guys in the sport.
‘‘I found my rhythm early and got clear water for most of the swim and rode my own tempo on the first part of the bike course to open up a gap but Ruzafa caught me on the last climb on the steep rocky parts.
‘‘I had a small crash on the technical decent but jumped back up and pushed on. I ran my own pace on the run and was stoked with this outcome.’’