The FISU World University Triathlon Championships took place at the end of August in Gdansk, Poland. Ireland were represented by two male and two female athletes in the individual races, with the four joining forces for the Mixed Team Relay the following day.
Samuel Smyth made his international debut in the Men’s individual race on Saturday. The swim saw a steady stream of athletes race from the water’s exit to T1 with Smyth exiting just past the the middle of the pack, followed shortly after by Jack Kennedy, who returns to international racing having last represented Ireland at the Loutraki ETU Triathlon Youth European Championships Festival in 2018.
Although unable to reduce the time between himself and the race leaders, Smyth produced a solid bike split to maintain a similar position throughout the 19.4km race. The two dead turns during the course ensured legs were well and truly sapped over the sprint distance race.
Kennedy came in to T2 just over a minute as they headed out on to the flat 5k run course.
19 year old Smyth claimed 50th overall on his first day in an Irish tri suit in a time of 55:30 with Kennedy following him across the line just over 2 minutes later for 65th.
Fresh from her first senior international racing experience in Balikesir earlier this month, Saoirse O’Brien was joined by Maeve Gallagher in the Women’s individual race. Gallagher was last in green for triathlon in 2021, but is no stranger to racing at this level.
The pair posted similar swim and run splits, with O’Brien proving the faster of the two over the run course. O’Brien ran herself to 36th overall with a time of 1:00:18, with Gallagher just over two minutes behind for 47th place.
Mixed Team Relay
The four were all in action again on Saturday for the Mixed Team Relay event. The team finished in 16th position overall gaining valuable experience for future team relay events.
