Former American Olympic triathlete shares the “s*** side of the sport” after Miami T100

When the best in the sport go head-to-head, as is the case at the T100 Triathlon World Tour, there are always some athletes who are going to finish the race wanting more.

For two-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship runner-up Ben Kanute, 14th place at the Miami T100 was one of those days and not how he envisioned starting his season.

With a long year ahead, however, the American shared his reflections on the race and looked ahead to the next opportunity, which is just around the corner at the Singapore T100 next month.

“Only two things went well!”

Looking back on his race, Kanute said only two things went his way, after his race plan started to fall apart early on in the bike under the Florida sun.

[Photo credit PTO / Darren Wheeler]

“Thats the s*** side of the sport. Pretty much only two things went well, the swim and not quitting.

“During the swim, I just sat in and it felt super easy, which was pretty surprising as my swim is not top notch yet so that’s a good sign that the fitness is there, but then I felt pretty strong getting on to the bike and then the heat caught up to me pretty quick.

“It was hard riding, but not outside of what I am capable of to hang with those guys for at least more than a couple laps so it was a little chaotic sorting everything out.

“Guys were coming past me and I just didn’t have the legs to stay with them. Halfway through the bike I wasn’t even pushing Ironman power and for the whole ride it was just abysmal power.”

“It was just survival”

Hoping some of the athletes up front would work too hard on the bike, Kanute regathered his thoughts and initially planned to redeem himself on the run, but things quickly went south with that plan.

I thought because of the heat some people might blow up and with a decent run I could crack the Top 10 even though the bike was awful.

“However, I ran well for ten steps and then it was just survival. I need to go back, analyse and just see what the hell happened because this isn’t how I like to race and there’s not really much to say except that shouldn’t happen.

“I’ve had really good training, and this was just so far from it. It wasn’t really fun, I’ve been having fun with it, but when it’s like that and it’s just survival it’s rough.” 

Racing next in Singapore on April 13-14, Kanute knows he will have to bring his A-Game to improve his standing in the series and show that he can be competitive. Confident the fitness is there, the Olympian says he is ready to roll in round two of the tour.