Alec Davison crossing the finish line first at the ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships.
Camera IconAlec Davison crossing the finish line first at the ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Fremantle teen Alec Davison wins Cross Triathlon world championship in Canada

Jessica NicoFremantle Gazette

FREMANTLE’S Alec Davison is sitting on top of the world.

The 16-year-old triathlete was among a strong field of international competitors at the recent 2017 ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships in Canada, but he said he was pretty confident of his chances, despite being one of the youngest in the field.

“At this stage three months out, I thought there was a good chance of getting a medal. However there was some tough competition,” he said.

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“Once the race lists had been published and we did a bit of research on the other competitors, I found out that Filippo Pradella from Italy was the junior European Cross Triathlon champion, Tate Haugan from Canada was the Xterra gold medallist and that there was a strong team from South Africa that would give me a serious run for my money.

“At this point I knew that I had to intensify my training to give myself the best possible chance in the race.”

On a warm, windless day, Alec set off on one of the biggest races of his young life.

After the first swim leg he was sitting in eighth, with Haugan and Pradella coming out of the water in first and second place respectively.

By the end of the second cycle leg, Alec had inched his way up the field after getting the fastest split, but it was his run leg where he won it, again achieving the fastest split to cross the finish line first, almost a full minute ahead of Haugan in second and two minutes in front of Pradella in third.

“I ran down Tate Haugan within the first kilometre (of the run leg) and at this point I honestly thought that there was one more athlete ahead of me, so I gave absolutely everything, which then resulted in me extending my lead out to 54 seconds,” he said.

“It was only in the last 200m when they started announcing my name that I realised I was in first place.

“Now that I am a world champion I can retire – I’m just joking! – this really is giving me a boost to get right into the new triathlon season that is soon to start.”

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