West finishes the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Jason West was a big enough name in the world of multisport at the beginning of 2023 – from 2019 to 2022 he’d won five IRONMAN 70.3 races. In 2023, though, West didn’t just add a another 70.3 win to his resume (along with a win at Clash Miami), he proved that he could compete with the world’s best thanks to a runner-up finish to Leo Bergere in Oceanside, a runner-up finish to Jan Frodeno (just 28 seconds down from the German) at the PTO US Open, and a third-place finish at the PTO Asian Open in Singapore.

Renowned as one of the sport’s premier runners – he sits atop the PTO run rankings – West appeared ready to continue his steady move towards the elite levels of long-distance racing at the beginning of 2024. The 2015 national collegiate champion (he did a kinesiology degree at Penn State) truly turned his sights from making it to the Olympics to focusing on long-course during the pandemic, and his 2023 season seemed to foreshadow his chance to achieve his dream of winning the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. Unfortunately, he ended up getting sick in the days before the race in Lahti, Finland, one of the few disappointments in his otherwise successful year of racing.

He rolled into 2024 sitting third in the PTO World Rankings and armed with a T100 contract, but found himself struggling for much of the first half of the year as he dealt with tendon issues around his pelvis.

“The first six or seven months of the year, I was probably in pain everyday,” West said in an interview a few days before the worlds in Taupo. Heading into the T100 races while injured wasn’t exactly the best way to take on the world’s best triathletes.

“Racing the T100 series, every single race felt like a world championship field,” West continued. “These big races where everybody is there, you can have a good day and come 10th … I’ve had performances this year that would’ve won most of the races in my career … and I’d be back in like eighth or 10th place. I think at some of the lower level races, there’s lots of points throughout the race that just aren’t that hard. There are some parts that might be tough, but the swims are generally not as hard, and there’s times on the bike where you’re not pushing that hard. But these races, you’re just full gas the whole way and that’s the norm.”

After trying to hold things together for months, West was finally forced to take some time off of running to try and get over the injury. Since he had a big break through August and September, instead of feeling like he needed a rest at the end of the season, West felt like he was just getting going as he went into the 70.3 worlds in Taupo. He arrived in New Zealand after a solid fifth-place finish at T100 Lake Las Vegas, but then had a tougher day at T100 Dubai, where he finished 13th.

Instead of getting that decent performance he was hoping for at the 70.3 worlds, the day ended up “summing up (his) year,” as he posted on Instagram. He was a bit behind where he’d hoped after the swim, then got dropped by the big group he was with on the bike, only to get passed by another group towards the end of the ride and getting a drafting penalty when they came around, setting the stage for a disappointing 28th-place finish.

Renewed Focus

Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

The tough year of racing in 2024 forced West to evaluate his approach to the sport.

“You take lessons from both sides of it,” he said. “When things go well, it’s also important to look at what was I doing that led me to have things go well. Or, if things haven’t gone well this year, what did I change or what was different in my life? It also gives you a little bit more perspective of what you want, what you don’t want. When you’re winning and you’re on top of the world, it probably masks a lot of things and you’re like, everything is just great. But when things start going wrong, you look to figure out why. I think it’s made me take a step back and just focus on what’s important, and how I want to do the sport. Not just going after specific goals, or I have to win this race, or that series, or something like that. It certainly made me think about how I want do it, what I want to get out of it and, maybe just making some changes for longevity and things like that.”

West’s answers to those questions? He’s determined to keep pushing himself, ensure he is enjoying the sport, and make some changes for 2025, including doing the “year totally different and thinking about what excites me and what’s fun.”

That process starts with this weekend’s IRONMAN 70.3 Pucon. Whether or not that will be the first stop on a season focused on the IRONMAN Pro Series is very much up in the air. West acknowledges that a full-distance race is in his future, but whether or not it will come this year remains to be seen.

“It’s something that I know I want to do eventually,” he said. “It’s such a big part of the sport. The pinnacle really is the Ironman World Championship. I mean, it’s the first triathlon I ever saw on TV, and know that I want to do that eventually. It’s just that I want to respect the distance, respect the race and respect what my competitors are doing. So I know that I can’t just hop in one and expect it to go well. I need to put in the appropriate training and really prepare.”

Partners

The upside of West’s breakthrough year was he was able to sign a number of excellent partnerships, many of which will run through the end of 2025. West was careful to think through what he was doing on the sponsor front during 2023, and enlisted the help of former pro Alicia Kaye to manage those partnerships.

“I feel like I have an incredible team around me and that’s become even more obvious as I’ve had a difficult year and they’ve all just been so supportive, and there’s a lot of belief in me,” he said. “So it feels like I have a super-good team around me that’s gonna be there to enjoy the highs, but also to continue to encourage me through the tough times.”

His only changes for 2025 on the sponsorship front is he’s signed with Goodlife Nutrition.

adding to his previous deal with Goodlife Brands, and replacing his previous nutrition sponsor.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jason West (@jasonwesttri)

“I’ve really been able to build a team around me that’s focused on performance,” West continued. “That’s from Ventum helping me with a new bike, my position, and what equipment to run, or JACKROO trying to get the fastest fabrics and doing a custom suit. Every brand we have is playing a specific role and helping me create the ultimate performance.”

New Arrival

There is one other big change coming for West in 2025 – he and his wife Jessica have announced that they will be expecting a new addition to the family.

“I’m excited to be a dad and it just gives you a different perspective on life and a different purpose,” West said. “I’m not going to be able to wake up and drag along ’cause all I have to do is my training. I’m going to have other things that I have to do. And I think that’s gonna be really awesome. Ultimately, this is the most important thing, being a dad, and it’s just really exciting. It’s something I’ve looked forward to for a long time and now it felt like the time was right.”

While congrats might be in order, there’s some time before training days will be oriented around parenting. First up for 2025 is Sunday’s race in Pucon, where West arrives as one of the pre-race favorites. You can see the full pro list here.

The post Jason West Resets for 2025 first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Before I begin, here is my normal disclaimer:

• These are static images taken at a single moment during the race.
• Camera angles can distort positions.
• I’ve also started viewing multiple sources other than the images below to make my recommendations.

I’m also assuming that athletes have arrived at these positions through a deliberate process, supported by trial and error, bike fit professionals, and some form of aerodynamic testing.

Photos by Kevin Mackinnon

1. Hayden Wilde – 1:58:51

The Olympic Silver Medalist seems to have adapted nicely to the time trial position. In my experience, most World Triathlon-focused athletes can either go full-blown TT position or something in between, as you’ll see further down the list. Hayden rides a pretty standard position that is a bit more reminiscent of the positions used just before we started seeing the trend of taller and longer setups. He rides taller in the front, but doesn’t ride as long. What I like about his position is that his bar drop is in just the right spot, allowing him to relax onto the front end and keep his head low.

2. Rico Bogen – 1:59:02

Rico rides the most aggressive position of the top 10 bike splits. He looks like what a ProTour rider would look like if they didn’t have to abide by the UCI rules. He is very low and long, with the front end so low that he forces his head into a very nice position. I’m not sure how comfortable he is, but if he hasn’t already, I’d experiment with coming up in the front to see what that would do to his CDA.

3. Justus Nieschlag – 1:59:07

It’s hard to get a great look at Justus’s position in these photos, but he has a solid setup. His front end isn’t that low, but he does a really nice job of hiding behind his hands in a very relaxed position. He rides what I’d call a moderate reach—not tight, but not overly stretched out, either.

4. Jelle Geens – 1:59:08

I struggle to write this because I’m biased by his result. He won the race! This doesn’t mean that he can’t improve. I’ve worked with world champions that didn’t want to change a thing until it stopped working. I’d always say that “failure forces change.”

If Jelle hadn’t performed so well during the back half of the year, I’d rip his position apart! Jelle doesn’t ride as steep as some of the other top riders, and this is exacerbated by not having great anterior pelvic tilt. Some of this pelvic position can be attributed to his front end being overly tall and the reach being short.

If I were working with Jelle, I don’t think I’d do anything drastic in 2025, as you don’t want to make big changes to a formula that seems to be working. The changes I’d make would focus on getting him more familiar with the mechanics and posture of a good TT position. I would extend his reach and work on his pelvic position, which could result in moving the saddle forward, or by him adjusting to a more forward position on the saddle. I’d keep the bar height where it is if adding length achieved the desired result.

5. Kyle Smith – 1:59:09

Kyle is another athlete who rides a very aggressive position—steep, low, and long. A few things I’d do here: 1. Lower his saddle, 2. Raise the front end, and 3. Add more angulation to the bars using the Canyon fairing to shield the head and body, similar to what you see Sam Laidlow and Patrick Lange doing.

6. Leo Bergere – 1:59:29

Leo is another ITU athlete who, like Wilde, looks really great on a TT bike. I don’t think I’d change anything with his position at this time. He rides forward with good pelvic tilt, a great front-end position that elongates his torso while keeping his head nice and low.

7. Henri Schoeman – 2:00:07

I went to Henri’s Instagram account to see if I could find more images/videos of him on his TT bike. It seems like he looks a bit different in all of them. This suggests he either does a lot of experimenting or his position is primarily driven by his posture at the time. Henri is somewhat limited by the geometry of his bike. He rides more rearward of the bottom bracket with a relatively tall front end. When you don’t ride as far forward, in order to maintain an open hip angle, you will typically need to raise the front end. Henri does a great job of working around this by manipulating his posture on the bike, sinking low onto the bike and keeping his head low.

8. Ruben Zepuntke – 2:01:17

Ruben rides one of the longest positions in the top 10. To classify this position, I’d go with steep, long, tall and narrow. I have seen images of Ruben racing where it looks like he could do a better job of keeping his head down, but that is just from observing a few pics from his Instagram account.

9. Harry Palmer – 2:01:29

It looks like Harry visited the Silverstone wind tunnel in November of 2024 with his bike sponsor Argon 18. Having participated in many of these sessions, I’d be curious to know how much time the athletes actually had in the tunnel and if they were also working with a bike fit professional. I will write more about this in my “Pillars of Speed” series, but I’m always happy to see an athlete exit the tunnel without having their chins on the front wheel, having thrown all bike fit principles out the window as they chase the lowest unsustainable CDA.

Harry does a great job with his front end, keeping his head low and hiding behind his hands. I think when you’ve had the chance to do some aero testing, you’ll see how big of a difference this makes, and it will incentivize you to focus on it throughout the race.

Harry doesn’t ride very far forward on the bike, which could limit how much he can lower his front end without impacting his biomechanics via a closed hip angle. With how well he postures on the front end, I’m not as bothered by his saddle position.

10. Gregory Barnaby – 2:01:45

Greg has a nice position. As I mentioned in the Kona bike article, he rides steep, long, low and keeps his head in a nice position. I do think, if he has any stability issues or feels like he is falling off the front of the bike, he could experiment with more bar tilt for extra support.

-Mat

The post Taupō Rides: The Positions of the Men’s Top 10 Bike Splits from 70.3 Worlds first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

The way Matthews bounced back from that challenge, though, pretty much personifies her season – she got on a plane and flew to San Francisco, where she took second to Taylor Knibb at the T100 event the following weekend. She followed that up with yet another IRONMAN win at Vitoria-Gasteiz, then bounced back two weeks later to take third at T100 London.

Racing well week in and week out is one thing, but Matthews also proved to be at her very best when it counted, taking second at both the IRONMAN world championship events. So, while she is thrilled to have taken the Pro Series title (along with fourth in the T100 Triathlon World Tour), she was rightfully proud of her ability to race well when it really counted.

“This is the first year that the (Pro) series has been running,” she said. “I think in future years it will just grow and grow and grow and it will really draw people into this sort of multirace series. “I think to get second here (in Taupo) and second at the full IRONMAN (Nice), I think that’s what I’m really proud of.”

“I think consistency isn’t always super sexy, but … I’ve really peaked for the big races,” she continued, referring to her runner-up finish to Laura Philipp in Nice and then her second-place finish behind Taylor Knibb in Taupo. “So this race I really trained for and to come 1:15 behind Taylor, that’s a sort of PB for me, so it’s not just the consistency. I’ve been able to see those significant, key races as my pinnacle, key races.”

Comeback

It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago we were all wondering if Matthews would ever return to the highest levels of the sport. Just 10 days before the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Matthews was hit by a car.

“She fractured her skull, two vertebrae in her neck, her sternum, a rib and she recently also discovered she’d fractured her hip socket,” the Daily Mirror reported as she prepared to return to racing in April, 2023. “By her own admission she could have died in that crash.”

While we might all be amazed at her impressive return to the highest levels of the sport, she has very much moved on.

“You know, the first six months of recovery was more about getting back to professional racing,” she said. “Now I’m better than I ever have been. That was a PB run, you know, this year I’ve put down PB bike power, PB swim, so it’s not about getting back.  It’s more about genuine gratitude for being able to race and to have this as my job, and to be around so many people who love the sport – this is literally my dream.

Second Career

Matthews has surged to the top of the triathlon world after having served in the British Armed Forces for many years. It remains a key part of what drives her in triathlon.

“That community, and the support from the British army, it is fundamental and it makes me really believe I’m not just fighting for myself as an individual, I’m fighting for for everybody to get behind that ethos of trying to be your best,” she said. “It really motivates me. And we even have people here who are posted from the British army overseas in New Zealand coming to support the race. So it really fills my heart.” 

2025 Racing

At the post-race press conference, Matthews made reference to trying to figure out what changes needed to be made in order to beat Knibb. I couldn’t help but ask if she thought that a reduced race schedule might help.

“To be honest, I actually feel like I’ve got fitter after every race,” Matthews said. “For this race, I don’t think I was disadvantaged by a busy racing schedule. Perhaps you could say for the full IRONMAN I need to commit to slightly different training or, you know, change something up in terms of my preparation, especially for Kona, so that’s definitely something I’m going to take into 2025, but for this specific race, no, I don’t feel like my schedule impacted it.”

All of which means we’re likely to see Matthews at a lot of races again next year. Consistency might not be sexy, but it sure can make for an impressive, and it sure doesn’t hurt the bank account.

The post Kat Matthews: Consistency Might Not Be “Super Sexy,” but it Pays Off in the End first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

• Blueseventy – 2
• Orca – 2
• Sailfish – 2
• Huub – 2
• Deboer – 1
• Mako Nordic – 1

Here’s a look at the first 10 men to exit Lake Taupō and make their way to the bike:

1. Greg Harper – 21:48

Wetsuit: Blueseventy Helix

2. Josh Amberger – 22:00

Wetsuit: Orca Apex Flex

3. Léo Bergère – 22:02

Wetsuit: Mako Ultimate Torrent

4. Marc Dubrick – 22:02

Wetsuit: Blueseventy Helix

5. Wilhelm Hirsch – 22:16

Wetsuit: Sailfish G-Range 8

6. Rico Bogen – 22:18

Wetsuit: Deboer Fjord 3.0

7. Henri Schoeman – 22:19

Wetsuit: Huub Agilis II

8. Hayden Wilde – 22:20

9. Kyle Smith – 22:22

10. Jelle Geens – 22:23

Wetsuit: Huub Agilis II

Photos: Kevin Mackinnon

The post Taupō Neoprene Test: The Wetsuit Brands Worn by the 10 Fastest Swimmers at the IRONMAN 70.3 Worlds first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

By David Gutnick

On Friday night, Olena Moroz went through her final preparation list:

*Yellow and Blue tri suit: check.

*Wetsuit and goggles: check.

*Cervelo R5 tuned up and racked: check.

*Saucony running shoes: check. 

*Maurten gel nutrition ready for the bike and run: check.

She chatted with her 20-year-old daughter Dariya, who is in Taupō to help mom deal with her pre-race jitters nerves and cheer her on. 

This was Olena’s first time qualifying for a 70.3 World Championship and, having carted her gear halfway around the world to race in Taupō, she promised herself that she was going to do everything possible to do her very best, to follow her coach’s advice, to soak up the peace and natural beauty of New Zealand, and bring whatever she learned back home. 

She started getting ready for bed, she needed to be rested for her race

Then her phone binged: a message from her 15-year-old son Sergio.

Big trouble back home.

Russian missiles had blown up six electrical power generating plants in their city of Lviv and more across Ukraine. Olena scanned the news on her phone. She found out Russia had launched 93 more missiles targeting Ukraine’s power supply.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, hundreds of Russian missiles have targeted homes, schools, hospitals, medical clinics, railway lines and an army base in Lviv. More than 75 children and adults have been killed, and many more have been injured. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers are dead, along with Ukrainian civilians, and Russia’s war rages on with no end in sight.

“When the war started, I didn’t know if I should keep training for triathlons,” says Olena. “So, I asked some of my friends who were soldiers, ‘Should I stop?’”

Olena runs an infertility clinic in Lviv, and there was no way she was going to close the clinic despite the ever-present danger. 

“We just do our best to keep going,” she says, “to keep being as normal as possible.”

That’s exactly what her soldier friends told her about her triathlon training. 

“They all told me the same thing,” says Olena. “Keep your life as normal as possible. Don’t let Putin control us: do everything you can to keep the life you have.”

And so that is what Olena did. She pedalled her Cervelo past buildings blown to smithereens, swam lengths in swimming pools while air raid sirens wailed in the distance, and ran through parks scarred by explosions.

Photo: World Triathlon

Olena got training plans from her coach, Alexey Syutkin, a former World Triathlon professional and member of Ukraine’s Olympic triathlon team. Every time Syutkin’s athletes open his webpage http://syutkin.com.ua/en#training, they see a picture of him racing and another of him in soldier’s camouflage, holding a rifle. 

Syutkin was at a triathlon training camp in Spain when Russia invaded. He returned to Ukraine and joined the army.

“You should mix work with pleasure, do sports and support the legend of the Ukrainian triathlon,” he writes. “In that way you also contribute to the army of Ukraine.”

So that is exactly what Olena did.

Over the past year, she competed in four different races in four different countries. 

She qualified for this World Championship at  IRONMAN 70.3 Luxembourg. 

Olena also flew to Africa to race Ironman 70.3 Rwanda, where she came third in her age group. She loved the entire experience. She says the Rubavu district community members welcomed the athletes with open arms and wants to go back.

Here in New Zealand, Māori in traditional clothing sang and performed a Haka before leading a parade of more than 6,000 athletes from 119 countries along the Taupo waterfront.

As Olena and her five Ukrainian teammates waved their flag, fellow triathletes and spectators kept coming up to them and wishing them luck, both in the race and in their daily struggles back home. 

“People understand what we are going through,” Olena says. “They want to help any way they can.”

For instance, volunteers from Britain regularly drive truckloads of donated medical supplies into Ukraine, knowing that they are taking huge risks. It must be done because helping Ukrainians was “just the right thing to do,” Olena says. 

Olena is a member of Rotary International, a service organization that she says has been instrumental in helping Ukrainians better survive the war. Whenever she’s not working at her fertility clinic or training, she’s coordinating their relief efforts and doing social media for her home club called Ukrainian Unity. 

Officials from DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private power supplier, said more than 3.5 million households had been left without heat. It was -1 C (30.2 Fahrenheit) in Lviv, and temperatures would be dropping in the weeks to come. 

Olena headed to T1 to check her bike, slipped into her wetsuit and made her way to the shore of Lake Taupō, her cap with her bib number 2578 pulled on tight. 

She was surrounded by 285 other women in her 45 to 49 age group. 

Seventeen thousand kilometres away, Russian President Vladimir Putin was doing his best to break the spirit of Ukrainians, vowing to smash and plunder and kill as many as it takes until they give in to his demands.

No way was Olena going to let that happen. 

At 8:43:14 Olena waded into the water and started to swim. 

Ed. Note: Olena would finish the race in 7:34:13. 

David Gutnick is an award winner journalist who has retired from CBC Radio in Canada. 

The post From Lviv to Taupo: a Ukrainian Athlete’s Journey to Her First 70.3 World Championship first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Photos by Kevin Mackinnon

OK, things were buzzing for “ladies day” here in Taupo yesterday. It is hard to describe how much more intense, crowded and, well, buzzing Taupo was today as a roughly 3,200 men started their race in Lake Taupo. (Even the helicopter seemed to be getting in on the action, determined not to miss a second of the men’s race action.)

You can read a blow-by-blow account of today’s racing in Ryan Heisler’s race recap.

Here’s my take on the day’s action based on my view from behind the camera.

Today the waka delivered men from Ngāti Tūwharetoa and the haka ceremony once again set the stage perfectly, adding more to the unique experience and sense of community that this world championship has engendered all week.

Once we’d all been “welcomed” to the lake, it was time for the racing.

When it was time to get the racing started, once again the top seeds all lined themselves up to the left of the swim start, with defending champ Rico Bogen lining up furthest to the left.

Greg Harper, the son of former pro triathlete Dean Harper, led the men out of the water. He was about 12 seconds up on Aussie Josh Amberger and France’s Olympic bronze medalist Leo Bergere, but the pack with many of the pre-race favorites, including Hayden Wilde, Rico Bogen, Kyle Smith, Jelle Geens and Justus Nieschlag were all about 30 seconds apart.

It wasn’t long before a lead pack of eight had formed. What was surprising about the lead cyclists was that it was a bunch of short course specialists who were pushing the pace, including local hero Hayden Wilde …

… The man Wilde beat to the silver medal in Paris, Leo Bergere …

… and yet another Olympian, Jelle Geens.

Defending champion Rico Bogen was in the mix, but wasn’t making it look easy to stay with the leaders.

Surprisingly Taupo’s very own Kyle Smith wasn’t his usual aggressive self at the front of the bike. Turns out he’d had COVID last week, so was still recovering from that as he hit the race course today.

Another surprise was the impressive riding by 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Henri Schoeman, who stayed with the leaders the hard way. While the rest of the group remained pretty much bang on the legal distance (as gauged by the Race Ranger tech being used), according to IRONMAN’s Matt Lieto, who was with the lead group a lot more than I was, Schoeman was almost always about 20 m behind the wheel in front, dangling close to being dropped.

As often seems to be the case in tight races, Mathis Margirier, who was pushing the pace in the lead group for much of the ride, was the one who got a drafting penalty, effectively putting him out of contention because …

… By the 80 km point of the ride it was clear the winner was going to come from the lead group.

Wilhelm Hirsch was one of the athletes in the first chase group that was led, for most of the way, by Kristian Hogenhaug (who spent so much time at the front he would eventually get dropped by the group). Even if you weren’t with the leaders, you weren’t taking in any of the spectacular scenery along the route.

Once out on the run, Wilde surged clear. After the race Wilde admitted that the incredible crowd support made it really hard to slow down.

Jelle Geens said after the race that along the way someone in the crowd told him to “believe the Paris scenario” (Wilde cracked in the last 1,100 m of the run at the Olympics and was passed by Alex Yee.) Not long after he heard that, Wilde started to struggle ahead of him.

Meanwhile, Bergere quickly decided who couldn’t go with Wilde or Geens.

“I decided to run my own race and to try to have to the the best tempo,” the Frenchman said after the race.

Meanwhile, the race to see who would be the top German was being played out as Justus Nieschlag started to pull ahead of the defending champ …

… Rico Bogen. (In the end, Nieschlag would take fifth, with Bogen seventh.

Think this guy is happy?

“I’ve been in this sport for very long time and I actually never made the podium (at a world championship),” Geens said after the race. “I came fourth twice in short course, and now, in my first try and a middle distance and I got it.”

It might not be the last, either.

“Paris was my last short course race,” he said. “To be honest, the last year and a half was quite tough for me, mentally … So, I really want to move to middle distance and see what I can do there.”

I can let him know now – a lot.

That blazing intitial pace ended up being too much – in the end the “Paris scenario” repeated for Hayden Wilde, who truly gave it all to get across the line.

“It was brilliant,” he said of the day when being interviewed for one of New Zealand’s television networks. “I loved every moment … I gave it everything, but yeah, it’s been a long season and, you know, I put it out there. I wasn’t going to shy away from it and had a crack at it. I was not bad for my third time at this distance.”

“It seemed like every inch of the run course was covered with people supporting me,” Wilde continued. “It was hard to slow down. To have a world championship in Taupo is awesome. It’s so great for the country – everyone knows our sport right now. It was so cool to give it a crack in front of the home town.”

Another bronze medal to go along with the Paris Olympic one from earlier this year for Leo Bergere. This one came without quite as much pressure.

“In Paris I was putting a lot of pressure on myself, but I was also feeling that the whole country was expecting a medal from one of the members of the French Team,” he said after the race.

Bergere thanked the crowd for all the support after he crossed the line.

“New Zealand is such a beautiful country and people are so welcoming,” he said.

Kyle Smith thrilled the crowd with his fourth.

Ninth was more than enough to assure Gregory Barnaby of the top slot in the IRONMAN Pro Series. You can read our profile on the Italian below:

It was Olympic day on the podium at today’s 70.3 worlds. A sign of things to come?

The post The Intensity Dials Up in Taupo as the Men Take to the Course at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship first appeared on Slowtwitch News.