Videos: Tyler Smith Finishes 13th In Triathlon
[Written by Stephen Wright]
Tyler Smith has hailed his career-best performance after finishing thirteenth in the men’s individual triathlon at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham today.
Smith, who climbed up to fourth place heading into the run, finished the sprint distance race [750-metre swim, 20km bike, 5km run] in 52min 14sec.
“That’s the best performance of my career for sure,” Smith said. “It’s not often you can finish a race and say that. That’s about as well as it could have gone today.”
Smith improved eight places on his previous finish at the Commonwealths when he came 21st on the Gold Coast, Australia, four years ago.
“That’s four years of work and the support of so many people, from the Bermuda Olympic Association to the Bermuda Triathlon Association and my coaches, family and friends.
“There’s no medal for finishing thirteenth, but to come out here and have so many Bermudians supporting me, is really special.”
The 23-year-old’s showing was all the more impressive, considering his preparations for Birmingham have been less than ideal after suffering a broken wrist after being knocked off his bike during a casual ride in Nice, France, in May.
“I’ve had many setbacks over the past two years,” said Smith, who missed the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, in 2019 due to a stress fracture in his foot.
“The goal was to just get to a major Games again. I wanted to have a clean race and compete against some of the best guys in the world.
“I’ve had a foot injury, I broke my wrist eight weeks ago, and right before the race, my wetsuit ripped. I was really proud to overcome all that stuff and have a good race.”
Smith, who had splits of 8:53, 26:00 and 16:04, added: “I was in the fight for a top ten. It will probably take another block [of training] to get me back up there with the run to really contest for that sort of result.”
Alex Yee, of England, won the race in 50:34, with Hayden Wilde, of New Zealand, coming second in 50:47 and Australian Matthew Hauser third in 50:50.
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