Bradley Weiss

28; 2017 Xterra Triathlon World Champion.

- Mike Finch

Talk us through the day you won the Xterra Triathlon World Championships in Hawaii. 

The Xterra World Championships is always an incredibly stressful day for professional, elite and amateur athletes alike. But it’s the day we’ve all prepared so diligently for, and waking up on race morning knowing you’ve done all you can in training brings a certain calmness to the situation.

I ran through my usual prerace routine, and before I knew it we were on the start line, ready for whatever the Maui Gods had planned for us. The swim is my Achilles heel; that’s usually where I lose the majority of my time to fellow athletes. But this day was different. I had the swim of my life, and exiting the water, I was right on the leaders’ heels, exactly where I needed to be.

Transition blew past, and at the start of this incredibly demanding mountain-biking course, a group of five had formed at the head of the race. 

I love the mountain-bike leg of an Xterra triathlon, and knew that if I wanted to win this race, I had to break away from this group and start putting time into the faster runners. 2016 Xterra World Champion Mauricio Mendez from Mexico was in the lead group, and with his lightning-fast run, I had no choice but to attack.

I got the lead about 5km into the biking leg, and just kept pushing. Ruben Ruzafa from Spain was closing in fast; and about two thirds into the course he finally bridged the gap and caught up to me – thankfully, not bringing any athletes along with him. I welcomed the company and we worked well together for the remainder of the bike course, until eventually he opened a small gap on the final singletrack section.