Olympian Tyler Smith produced a scintillating run split to surge through the field and secure 13th place at the 2026 World Triathlon Cup in San Pedro de la Paz, Chile.
Competing in testing conditions across standard Olympic-distance disciplines, the Bermudian Olympian stopped the clock in an overall time of 1 hour 46 minutes 44 seconds. Smith crossed the line just 1:41 adrift of American winner Morgan Pearson, who captured gold in 1:45:03.
Smith faced early adversity in the water during the opening 1.5km swim leg, emerging in 37th position after posting a split of 18:12. However, he went straight to work on the 40km bike course, clocking the 21st fastest cycling split of 56:47 to reel in the chase pack.
"I was a little bit further back than I would have liked out of the water," Smith admitted. "I've been training hard and knew that no matter where I was at the start of the race, I could get myself further up the field.
"I worked really well on the bike with some other guys to form a big pack. There were still eight people up the road and unfortunately we couldn't catch them—they were just too strong."
Smith then unleashed an exceptional closing surge on the 10km run leg, recording the sixth-fastest run split of the day in 30:45 to climb 24 places from his post-swim position.
"The goal for me was really to try to be in the top 15, get myself some good Olympic points, and on that front it's job accomplished," Smith said. "I was super happy with 13th place—well above where I was ranked coming into this event.
"To close out with a 30:45 10k, the sixth-fastest run of the day, was really a new level of running for myself. I'm really thrilled with the performance I put out there."
Smith will now turn his attention to the remainder of his South American and Oceania swing, with two more World Triathlon Cup events lined up in quick succession—another outing in Chile next weekend followed by a stop in New Zealand two weeks later.
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