Three time Olympian Tyler Mislawchuck has produced strong results at World Cups throughout his career, but this past Saturday’s race in Weihai, China marks his second podium at the World Triathlon Championship Series level, following his podium finish on home soil in Montreal in 2019.
Tyler completed the 1.5 kilometer swim, 40 kilometer bike and 10 kilometer run with a time of 1:41:25, crossing the line in third place, finishing 17 seconds behind first and 7 seconds from second.
“I am pretty stoked. I’ve had a good season with results at World Cups, but this is my first World Triathlon Championship Series podium in seven years,” beamed Mislawchuk”. “It’s just a matter of showing up on the good days and the bad.”
The day consisted of less than ideal conditions but that didn’t stop the Oak Bluff, MB native from giving it his all. Tyler emerged from the choppy, two-lap swim in 17th position, making it into the lead pack of 28 athletes for the eight-lap bike segment. With the course slick and challenging, the leaders were forced to balance speed with staying on their wheels. Once onto the run, he found himself among the front five, helping the group build a 15-second advantage over the rest of the field during the opening lap of the four-lap run. The athletes battled out the run together before the race came down to a final push toward the blue carpet, where Tyler secured third place
“It been seven years with a lot of close calls, but there is nothing like being on the WTCS podium while going up against the best guys in the world,” added Mislawchuk. “I saw an opportunity today, and three kilometres into the run I went for it. The whole last five kilometres, I kept saying this is what you train for every day. It feels good to do it at the top level.”
With two more WTCS races remaining this season, Tyler will have another two opportunities in this series to add to what has already been an impressive summer. Whether another podium is on the horizon remains to be seen, but Saturday’s performance shows he is firmly in the mix among the world’s best.
