MONTREAL — Winnipeg's Tyler Mislawchuk could not hold back tears of joy after making Canadian triathlon history.
Mislawchuk became the first Canadian male to reach a podium at the ITU World Series after his third-place finish under torrential rain and thunder in Montreal on Saturday. The 24-year-old had tears in his eyes during the podium ceremony.
"Seeing all those familiar faces, people I've trained with and friends, it's just incredible," said Mislawchuk, who finished five seconds behind the winner. "I can't really explain it. You don't plan to get emotional like that. It just comes out."
Mislawchuk had a real chance of winning until Jelle Geens of Belgium broke away on the final stretch.
Geens finished the 750-metre swim, 20-kilometre cycle and five-kilometre run in 53 minutes 49 seconds. Mario Mola of Spain, the defending champion in Montreal, was two seconds behind him.
Mislawchuk finished third in what he called the best race of his young career.
"Everywhere I went, there was a Tyler chant," said Mislawchuk, who was eighth in Montreal last year. "It's pretty crazy to go against the best guys in the world and think you can win. I believed I could.
"I'm sure every other athlete that I was running with was wishing their name was Tyler."
Mislawchuk remained in a very dense leading pack from the beginning.
Only 13 seconds separated him from the leader after the swim. Twenty-eight triathletes, including Mislawchuk, were bunched together at the end of the cycling portion of the event.
Ten of those broke away on the final lap of the run before Geens, Mola and Mislawchuk took the definitive lead as rain began coming down.
"I came up short, but still over the moon," said Mislawchuk. "To do that at home, it was a dream of mine when I was a kid. We had sun and rain and wind and it made for an epic finish. It started pouring and I loved it. A bit of adversity that played in my favour I think."
The three other Canadians in the race finished well off the leaders.
Montreal's Alexis Lepage was 36th, just ahead of Victoria's Matthew Sharpe in 37th. Michael Lori of Tecumseh, Ont., finished 44th.
Earlier Saturday, American Katie Zaferes narrowly edged out Britain's Georgia Taylor-Brown to win the women's triathlon in 58:15 for her fourth victory of the season.
It all came down to the final stretch in the run as Zaferes pulled away and crossed the finish line 12 seconds ahead of Taylor-Brown.
Zaferes was in the lead group out of the water and throughout the cycling portion. The American increased her lead atop the world series standings with the victory.
"I was just really excited to come away with the win, especially when it came down to running with Georgia. The last time I ran with her, I didn't get the win," said Zaferes, referring to the triathlon in Leeds, England, earlier this month. "It was a fun new course and I have a lot of family here so it made it extra special."
Jessica Learmonth of Britain came in third, 35 seconds behind Zaferes.
Joanna Brown of Carp, Ont., crossed the finish line 12th, 1:50 behind the leader. Brown finished fourth in Montreal last year and the year before as well.
"I started really well, I swam well and was close to the lead," said the 26-year-old Brown. "But the bike was so difficult and I found myself falling behind. I just couldn't find that rhythm. I wanted to finish fourth again this year, or maybe even a podium."
Brown emerged from the water in 16th spot and began gaining ground on the leaders on the bike. She jumped into 10th spot after the first lap and was eighth when she started her run, one minute behind Zaferes and Taylor-Brown.
"You never know how you're going to feel after the bike," said Brown, who won bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Australia last year. "Once the run started, I was exhausted. Not my best run today. Normally that's a strength for me but I fell pretty flat. Can't be your day every day."
The Montreal triathlon is the fifth in a series of eight World Series events. The next triathlon is in Hamburg, Germany on July 6-7.
Kelsey Patterson, The Canadian Press
