Taupō's Kyle Smith excited to make Ironman debut in front of home crowd

Kyle Smith takes out the men's pro race at Ironman 70.3 Taupō on debut in 2019. Photo / Korupt Vision

Taupō's Kyle Smith is among New Zealand's leading ironman athletes preparing to return to Taupō this weekend for the 37th Nutri-Grain Ironman New Zealand event.

Previous winners, rising stars and first-time ironman entrants feature in the professional field, with athletes set to go head-to-head on Saturday across a 3.8km swim, 180km ride and 42km run.

The continued closure of international borders means the 2021 Nutri-Grain Ironman New Zealand will have a distinct Kiwi feel, with 13 professional ironman athletes lining up for the event.

The men's field includes previous winners Mike Phillips, Braden Currie and Cameron Brown, with the former champions lining up alongside up-and-coming stars such as Kyle Smith and Jack Moody.

Kyle took out the men's pro race on debut in 2019's Ironman 70.3 Taupō event, winning that event in a time of 3hrs 49m 23s.

The former Taupō-nui-a-Tia College student said this weekend would be his full Ironman New Zealand debut and he was feeling pretty good about it.

"It's quite hard to know where you're at coming into Ironman if you haven't done one before.

Kyle Smith takes the win and smashes the course record at the Tauranga Half triathlon event in January 2020. Photo / George Novak

"But I'm in good shape and training has been going well, so hopefully everything comes together on the day.

"No run-up is ever perfect, but you just have to ride that wave and understand it will be okay on race day."

He said the new postponement date for Ironman had actually worked out quite well for him, as he had recently raced three times in four weeks.

"It would have only been two weeks in-between for me, so I got some extra weeks to recover and do some more training post-Challenge Wanaka 2021.

"I think Ironman Taupō is going to be amazing. I'm a Taupō kid, so it's an amazing thing to race in front of hometown people.

Kyle Smith (centre) won gold in 2017 in the under-23 division of the ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships held in Canada. Photo / Kellie Howell

"I enjoy the bike and it's what I excel at, but I'm looking forward to swimming in Lake Taupō and how pristine it is.

"All of the race will be amazing and I'm really looking forward to it."

Kyle said he goes into every race wanting to win, and for the past two years so far he had been undefeated in long-distance events.

"The goal is always to win but I can't take on the event or other competitors without respect. They are such strong competitors.

"By our calculations and what we've been working on, getting to sub-eight hours would be the goal, but I just want to have the best day I can.

"It's my debut and I'm only 23 years old so I've got a lot of time to figure this stuff out."

He thanked the Taupō community, especially Tri Sport Taupō, for the support throughout the years and believing in him.

"I hope I can make them proud."

Nutri-Grain Ironman New Zealand Professional start list

Men:

Mike Phillips NZL

Braden Currie NZL

Cameron Brown NZL

Ben Phillips NZL

Kyle Smith NZL

Simon Cochrane NZL

Olly Shaw NZL

Jack Moody NZL

Lucas Duross NZL

Women:

Hannah Wells NZL

Rebecca Clarke NZL

Melanie Burke NZL

Emily McNaughtan NZL