MONTERREY, Mex.— Canada’s Brock Hoel (West Kelowna, B.C.) secured his first-ever CAMTRI win at the Triathlon American Championships in Monterrey, Mexico, completing the sprint distance event in 56 minutes and 53 seconds to lead the field.
The road to victory wasn’t smooth for the 18-year-old Hoel, who fell coming out of the water on slippery pavement following the 750-metre swim. Recovering quickly, he transitioned into the 20-kilometre bike portion of the race where an early crash on the first corner caused the field to become very tentative on the slick corners, while pushing full-gas in the straights.
“It was really a matter of who could stay upright on the bike today, and get to the run unscathed,” said Hoel of the middle leg of the race. “Despite sliding a tonne on the corners, I never crashed on the bike.”
Starting the run 40 seconds behind the leaders, Hoel ran full-throttle from the start of the five-kilometre run, and quickly closed the gap to eventually cross the finish line first.
“It became completely a mental fight,” said Hoel of his last 500 metres. “I’ve trained extremely hard for this race. I knew it was going to take an amazing run to win the race, and that’s what I’ve been focusing on for the last six months – building to this moment. I’m absolutely stoked and thankful for this victory, and those who supported me along the way including my coach Luke Way.”
Fellow Canadian Filip Mainville finished fifth, posting a time of 57:37 – 18 seconds off the podium. Rounding out the Canadian performances were Tristen Jones and Kaelen Kolb, who finished 15th and 33rd respectively.
Colette Reimer was the top Canadian in the junior women’s race, finishing eighth with a time of 1:06:31.
Mexico’s Anahi Alvarez Corral won the race with a time of 1:04:41
Complete Results: https://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2019_monterrey_camtri_triathlon_american_championships
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