XTERRA World Championship is Coming

Off-road triathlon’s greatest day is now just under a month away.

The challenge combines a 1.5-kilometer (1-mile) roughwater swim that starts at D.T. Fleming Beach in front of The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua with a grueling two-lap 32-kilometer (20-miles) mountain bike course and a tricky 10.5-kilometer (6.5-miles) trail run.

A star-studded elite field is headed to Maui for the 25th edition of XTERRA Worlds, led by the men’s and women’s defending champions, Brad Weiss from South Africa and Flora Duffy of Bermuda.

“I really enjoy the trip to Maui, and just how different it is from the World Triathlon Series,” said Duffy, who is competing at the World Triathlon Championship Abu Dhabi this weekend. “For me personally, XTERRA always feels like a return to fun, simpler ‘swim-bike-run’ times!”

XTERRA Worlds marks the end of a historic season for Duffy, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics then claimed her third WTS World Title shortly after.

“Maui will be my last race of 2021, and I plan to stay in Hawaii through to Christmas week, hopefully mostly on Kauai where I’ve not been and have been wanting to explore,” said Duffy, who won her unprecedented fifth XTERRA World Championship title in 2019. “I need a big reset after this year, and I’m hopeful the additional time on Hawaiian beaches will be a good start to that goal.”

Before the well-deserved rest, Duffy will have one last piece of business to take care of against a strong cast of contenders including the recently crowned 2021 ITU Cross Tri World Champion Loanne Duvoisin, 2019 ITU Cross Tri Champ Eleonora Peroncini, 2018 XTERRA Worlds runner-up Michelle Flipo, 4x XTERRA U.S. Women’s Champ Suzie Snyder, 5x World Champ Melanie McQuaid, and a host of others.

On the men’s side, Bradley Weiss is excited for the chance to defend the crown.

“The XTERRA World Championships will always hold a very special place in my heart. I absolutely love this island and everything about the XTERRA community gathering each year to battle it out for that title,” said Weiss, who won his second XTERRA world title in 2019. “After missing the event in 2020 thanks to COVID-19, I think we all realized just how important this event is and how excited we all are to have it back on the calendar!”

Before he heads to Maui, Weiss will race the Ironman African Championships on November 21, creating his own very unique and demanding double.

“To be perfectly honest, this is a complete experiment,” smiled Weiss. “Trying to race well over two completely different formats of triathlon set just two weeks apart on completely opposite ends of the world is perhaps a questionable way to end the season, however, I am excited for the challenge, and it seems my body is holding up well to the training demands.”

In addition to the physical challenge, the challengers themselves will also make things difficult for Weiss.

“Nothing motivates me more than a properly competitive field,” exclaimed Weiss. “I will be racing against the likes of Sebastian Kienle in Africa, and then face an incredible field in Maui just two weeks later. This has kept me really focused on each and every training session, and I only have two weeks of training left before entering this racing block, so the fatigue levels are pretty high.”

At XTERRA Worlds, Weiss will be up against 7x World Champ Ruben Ruzafa, 2016 XTERRA World Champ Mauricio Mendez, 2015 winner Josiah Middaugh, 2021 ITU Cross Tri World Champ Arthur Serrieres, 2017 ITU Cross Tri Champ Francisco Serrano, up-and-comer Seth Rider, the Olympic development squad from USAT’s Project Podium, Eric Lagerstrom, Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Hayden Wilde, and hopefully his former training mate, Sam Osborne (assuming he can get out and back-in to NZL).

“Knowing these incredible athletes are waiting to take me on has been incredibly motivating,” said Weiss.

Hayden Wilde Racing XTERRA Worlds

Hayden Wilde from New Zealand, fresh off his bronze medal-winning performance at the Tokyo Olympics, will race XTERRA Worlds on December 5.

For Wilde, who won the u19 division XTERRA world titles in 2015 & 2016, returning to Maui will be a homecoming of sorts.

“XTERRA is where I started my triathlon career, it got me into the sport and made me the athlete I am today so to have this opportunity to hang the road bike up for a few months and go back to the Island, it’s a dream come true,” said Wilde, who did his first-ever triathlon at XTERRA Rotorua in 2015.

“I’ve always wanted to return to Maui, it really feels like I’m headed back home where the journey all began. And I always told myself when I left the XTERRA scene to chase the ITU and Olympic dream that after Tokyo I would go back to Maui that year and do the triple … Olympics, ITU World Champs, and XTERRA Worlds.”

In Maui, Wilde will have the chance to join a truly elite collection of triathletes to have won both an Olympic medal and an XTERRA World Championship.

The short list of legends to do both include Australia’s Michellie Jones (1996 XTERRA World Champ, 2000 silver medalist), Spain’s Javier Gomez (2012 XTERRA World Champ, 2012 silver medalist), Bermuda’s Flora Duffy (5x XTERRA World Champ, 2020 gold medalist), and New Zealand’s Hamish Carter (2006 XTERRA World Champ, 2004 gold medalist).

“It’s a very exciting opportunity to race Maui as an elite, and to take home the world title would be a HUGE deal for me personally,” exclaimed Wilde. “I work a lot with Hamish at home as he is heavily involved around triathlon in New Zealand, but the Kiwi I really want to race is Sam Osborne. I did some training with Sammy back home as we only live 40 mins away and we love giving each other some banter. He’s one of the guys I grew up watching race pro XTERRA, and I’d love to race the guy again because we have some unfinished business.”

Osborne won the last meeting between the two at the 2018 XTERRA New Zealand Championships.

“Yeah, he won, and I was fifth. I had an unlucky crash on the top section of the course and went down pretty hard, ha-ha, and I can tell you the body did not appreciate it for the rest of the race,” recalls Wilde. “This time will be different, so if Sam can make it to Maui, he’ll have to try and hold on in the water and the run.”

Perhaps the bigger question is … can Wilde hold on during the mountain bike?

“Not going to lie, it has been a minute since I’ve been on a mountain bike,” he said. “I was so focused on Tokyo, I hardly went on, so for the next two months it’ll be really important for me get the feelings back on my Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper 29er so I can make for some exciting racing.”