An Okanagan athlete won the junior men’s race at the Triathlon American Championships in Monterrey, Mexico, on Friday.
Brock Hoel, 18, of West Kelowna, finished the sprint-distance event in a winning time of 56 minutes and 53 seconds. The sprint-distance triathlon was comprised of a 750-m swim, 20-km bike and five-km run.
Placing second in the 46-athlete field, six seconds behind Hoel, was Jose Alaniz Ordonez of Mexico (56:59). Behind him were Rene Martinez Garcia and Juan Hernandez, both of Mexico (both 57:19), with Canadian Filip Mainville in fifth (57:37).
Hoel’s swim time was 9:12, eight seconds behind the leader, and he reportedly fell while coming out of the water, but recovered and transitioned quickly to the bike portion.
Hoel’s bike time was 30:50, which put him slightly behind the leaders. However, an excellent run — 15:47, best of the day — allowed him to close the gap, then take over the lead.
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“It became completely a mental fight,” Hoel told Triathlon Canada. “I’ve trained extremely hard for this race.
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“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.”
Rounding out the Canadian performances were Tristen Jones in 15th (58:53) and Kaelen Kolb in 33rd (1:03:11).
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The junior women’s race was won by Anahi Alvarez Corral of Mexico in 1:04:41. There were seven Canadians competing: Colette Reimer in 8th (1:06:31); Alexandrine Coursol in 10th (1:06:50), Kira Gupta-Baltazar in 16th (1:07:32); Teagan Shapansky in 26th (1:10:53); Emma Skaug in 27th (1:11:43); and Nataliia Kolesova in 31st (1:13:03); and Ella Kubas (DNF).
For more on the Triathlon American Championships, click here.