Young more than happy with World Duathlon bronze
Steve Young
A FORMER Central School pupil claimed a bronze medal in the ITU World Duathlon Championships in Nancy, France, last weekend.
Steve Young, 28, finished third in the 25-29 age category after he completed 15km of running and a 40km cycling leg.
Bursting on to the triathlon scene a couple of years ago, Royal Navy PT instructor Steve was noticed by the service’s Elite Sports Committee and he was placed on an elite athlete training programme.
With a clean sweep of wins in both triathlon and duathlon, he soon found himself racing amongst the best at last year’s World Triathlon Championships in Beijing, where he finished a respectable fifth.
He was crowned Interservices Duathlon Champion in Bristol this year and went on to finish third at the National British Duathlon Championships. He also won the Interservices Half-Ironman Championships at Rutland Water four weeks ago.
Going into the Worlds at Nancy, Steve said he was concerned that he may have not had time to recover.
He said: “On the start line I was excited but nervous, anxiously waiting for the start gun with the rest of the world.”
Steve said he found the first 10km run tough and went into the transition to bike in sixth position.
He said: “I had a really good transiation and hammered it on the bike. Before I knew it, I’d passed other athletes. By the time I got to the second run, I was quietly confident.”
He went into the second transition in third with the fastest bike split in his age group.
But Steve faded towards the end of the final 5km run and was unable to make up the final two places to take the victory.
He said: “I was dizzy and dehydrated from working hard on the bike. Closing in on second, I left it 300m too late and finished third.
“Claiming the bronze medal was all worth the pain and fight. I couldn’t have asked for any more.”
Steve is now preparing for the World ITU Triathlon Championships in New Zealand later this month.
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Wednesday 22 May 2013
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