Sullivan Middaugh impresses at XTERRA World Championships in Trentino, Italy

Two-time defending XTERRA USA champion Sullivan Middaugh finished his season with a fifth-place finish at the XTERRA world championship on Saturday in Trentino, Italy. The 19-year-old, who took bronze in Thursday’s World Cup short-track race in Trentino, completed the full-distance (1.5-kilometer swim, 32-kilometer mountain bike, 10-kilometer trail run) off-road triathlon in 2 hours, 43 minutes and 36 seconds.

“I’m super stoked with both of those performances. I think if you would have told me I would have gotten third and fifth last week, I definitely would have taken that,” Middaugh said in voice message to the Vail Daily after the race.

France’s Arthur Serrieres defended his world title (2:38:54) in a race that morphed into a dual against fellow countryman Felix Forissier over the run leg.

“I feel amazing,” Serrieres told XTERRA reporters afterward. “Last year it was another game — I had a more than two-minute lead at the finish line and I (could) manage my pace. Here, Felix was so strong, and during the bike, he pushed me just to stay on his wheel. And on the run he did a pretty fast first lap.”

“It was really intense and I’m so happy to be on the front with Arthur because he’s a good friend; it’s pretty good to fight with him,” said Forissier, who faded in the second 5-kilometers of the run. “He was too strong for me today, but I’m happy to finish second and close my season like that.”

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The pair came into the race ranked No. 1 and 2 in the XTERRA World Cup standings, which are calculated by adding an athletes’ four best full-distance performances with their three best short-track performances over the course of the newly-minted, seven-stop World Cup calendar. Serrieres not only won Saturday’s world championship race, he also secured the World Cup title.

But Middaugh demonstrated he belonged in such elite company early and often Saturday.

The former Battle Mountain runner and Nordic skier exited the water three seconds ahead of Serrieres and replicated the bold, front-of-the-pack bike riding he employed at Beaver Creek a month ago and in Thursday’s short track. On Saturday, he was again setting the lead group’s pace 20 minutes into the first climb, but wiped out on a turn after a short bridge.

“(I) had to re-straighten my handlebar and put my chain on and fix my seat,” he said. “I think I would have liked to have had that moment back.”

Trentino received heavy rains Friday, but Middaugh said the course was “very rideable.”

His dad, 2015 world champion Josiah Middaugh, climbed the standings throughout the bike and held on during the run to finish as the second American and 13th overall. The result came six weeks after surgery on a broken foot. Middaugh said his Howard Head team put together a plan that included XTERRA World Championships as the rehab goal.

“Once they put that in my head, there was kind of no looking back,” he said. “But it was not ideal.” Middaugh said he took five weeks off from all training modalities and went for his first run just a week ago.

Even with “just a fraction of myself out there,” Middaugh said he had an enjoyable time on-course.

“Actually, I felt surprisingly good. I definitely didn’t have a lot of punch and good top-end on the bike, but I had good endurance,” he said. “I was able to stay pretty strong on that second lap. Even though I knew I was bleeding some time to the leaders, I had different goals. And then on the run, it was really more about survival.”

Middaugh said the trip also was ultimately about supporting his son. “After kind of a devastating setback with the broken foot, I was really just happy to be there,” he said.

Josiah finished his season 15th in the overall standings. Sullivan, thanks to his win in Beaver Creek and third and fifth this weekend, catapulted himself into ninth. He tallied nine top-10 XTERRA finishes. Avon athlete Suzie Snyder wound up sixth in the women’s standings after placing 16th Saturday.

When asked if the XTERRA fields of today are better than they were 10 years ago, Josiah answered, “That’s a good question.”

“I think XTERRA has gone a little more global, but more of a Euro-centric focus, I think, with all the races in Europe and the World Championships being in Europe. And I think that means just a deeper field,” he said. “So, I don’t think the front of the race is any different. Actually, (there’s) still some of the same players up there, but I think just the positions 1-20 are super solid and strong.”

Regardless, he thinks Sullivan sent a significant message with his last two efforts.

“I was so happy and so proud of Sullivan in the short track race. He really had a breakthrough performance there finishing third with the very best guys in the world,” Josiah continued.

“And the way that he did it — riding to the front — I think it put a lot of people on notice. And then today, same thing. Had a great swim — I mean, he was out ahead of the world champion. He was able to get to the front of the race on the bike and he was sitting right at the front, attacking, and feeling as strong as anybody. I think it’s a really good sign of things to come.”

Sullivan gave himself an A- on the day, the crash being his main blemish. He plans on celebrating the conclusion of his 24-race season (a mix of draft-legal road and XTERRA off-road triathlons), by studying to improve his grades in a different arena altogether.

“The main thing on my mind is some lecture videos and an organic chemistry exam I have to take before tomorrow,” the Arizona State University Project Podium student-athlete said.