Torremolinos, Esp.— Tyler Mislawchuk matched his Paris Olympic finish and his career-best World Championship result, racing to ninth on Sunday in Torremolinos, Spain.
The 28-year-old once again proved he’s amongst the world’s elite while battling from back in the pack with a solid bike and run after a challenging 1.5-kilometre swim to post a ninth-place time of 1:44:26 – just one second of his Paris Olympic time where he crossed the line in the same position.
“This is the fourth ninth I’ve had in the last two years at a World Championships – Hamburg, Pontevedra, Paris and now here. I have been pretty consistent although I feel like this was a better result than all four of them because I ran from chase pack to ninth,” said Mislawchuk.
“It was a bit of a sub-par swim coming out mid pack, but I moved up the second lap (in the water) after I was getting battered off the start. One thing I knew, I was swimming very controlled so I knew that on the bike I would be able to push it. I think a couple of the guys who didn’t make the group were red line coming out of the water and I wasn’t, so it wasn’t too bad.”
That, he did.
Mislawchuk dug deep for the eight-lap bike course, climbing closer to the top of the pack but a crash mid-way through the race separated the elite field of 60 athletes.
“Unfortunately, the five guys who got a break kind of happened after a crash and then there was a big group. It’s tough when five guys get almost two minutes on you,” added Mislawchuk.
But he didn’t give up, showcasing his fitness and preparation on the run where he made his mark.
Storming out of T2 in 24th spot (one minute 44 seconds behind the frontrunners), the Oak Bluff, Man. resident steadily picked his way through the field into the top-10.
“I ran pretty good. I made it about a kilometre or two further than I did in Paris, and then the wheels kind of came off at about the 8-kilometre mark, and I fought may way home. I’m just missing that last little bit,” he added. “Last year, (I was in it) until 5km in Pontevedra, I was there for 6km in Paris, and today 8. Maybe I gotta stick around and finish the job.”
New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde was crowned World Champion with a time of 1:44:22. Leo Bergere, of France, placed second at 1:43:22. Alex Yee, of Great Britain, held on for the bronze medal at 1:43:50.
Charles Paquet (Port Cartier, Que.) was looking to build off his top 15 Olympic finish but crashing to the pavement in T1 with a punctured tire that forced him to change his wheel dropped him well back of the leaders. Paquet continued to battle, placing 48th at 1:51:18.
But the Canadian story today belonged to the nation’s most successful male triathlete since Simon Whitfield.
Mislawchuk has won multiple World Cup races, a bronze medal on the World Triathlon Championship Series, and became the first Canadian in the 20-year history of triathlon being in the Olympic program to win the Tokyo Olympic Test Event, but injuries following both of his 15th-place finishes at his first two Olympic attempts has impacted his training and performances.
After a long battle back to his elite form since Tokyo 2020, the scrappy Canuck is now finally back on a consistent basis, exchanging jabs with the top triathletes on the planet.
“I did everything I could over the last three years to come back from an achillies tear, concussion, crashes – you name it, I had it. I am finally coming to the start line healthy. I absolutely went for it again (at Paris and in Spain) and I’m proud of the effort,” said Mislawchuk.
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