Eagle County’s Sullivan Middaugh wins XTERRA short-track world title

Sullivan Middaugh won the short-track title at the XTERRA World Championships on Thursday morning in Trentino, Italy.

The 2022 Battle Mountain graduate — who won XTERRA USA titles at Beaver Creek in 2022 and 2023 and the new North American championship in 2024 — covered the 400-meter swim, 8-kilometer bike and 3-kilometer off-road triathlon course in 32 minutes and 51 seconds. The 20-year-old out-sprinted Felix Forissier and Arthur Serrieres at the line to claim his first-career XTERRA world championship.

“Really awesome sprint at the end and couldn’t be happier,” Middaugh told XTERRA media in a post-race interview. “I didn’t have a great swim but I was able to work my way back on the bike.”

Middaugh exited the swim 25 seconds behind Forissier, the current overall World Cup leader. A five-person peloton formed at the front early in the bike leg, with Middaugh barely inside the top-10. The Eagle-Vail athlete moved his way up to seventh by the end of the first lap, however, and made a bid for the top-3 on the steepest climb of the third lap. As a cold rain made for slick surfaces on the sand, gravel and grass course, Middaugh — who finished third-overall at the short-track world championships last year — looked comfortable.

The American came through the final transition with a one-second lead as four Frenchmen — Forissier, Serrieres, Maxim Chane and Jules Dumas — remained in hot pursuit. Early in the first lap of the run, Forissier slid in front of Middaugh.

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“Felix set a really hard pace and I just told myself, stay with him for one lap because I didn’t know if I was going be able to stay with him the whole time,” Middaugh said. “But then my legs sort of came around and we all came together.”

Serrieres, the defending long-course champion, glided up to the front pair to make it a three-person race over the final kilometer. Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen, last year’s short-track champion, was gaining on the top three throughout the run, but had too much real estate to make up to mount a legitimate podium bid and wound up in fifth.

Middaugh came around the final bend flanked by Forissier and Serrieres on either side, but was able to break the tape with a furious finishing kick.

“I knew I had a good kick, so I just kind of sat in until the last 200-meters or so and let it go,” Middaugh said.

“It was a crazy finish,” added Forissier, who finished in second. “It was a good race. Before the race, I just wanted to not push too hard for the (long-course tomorrow), so I made a good start.”

“On the run, I felt great,” he continued. “And at the finish, I saw Sullivan—a pretty strong guy—but it was awesome to compete with him.”

Serrieres told XTERRA media that Thursday’s event was more of an “activation” run for Saturday’s championship. “During the run, I increased the pace and opened up a gap,” he said. “It was quite okay because there was no one else behind me, so I just tried to push. I’m quite okay with that sprint finish. Quite happy to share the podium with these strong guys.”

Porter Middaugh finished eighth overall in 34:02 and Josiah Middaugh, the 2015 XTERRA world champion, came in 12th in 34:40.

When asked about competing with his brother and father, Sullivan Middaugh said, “It’s awesome — my brother and dad all on the start line together. It’s a pretty awesome moment to experience.”

The 28th-annual XTERRA World Championships continues with the marquee long-course world championship race Saturday. The livestream begins at 1:45 MST on the XTERRA Youtube page. That event consists of a 1.5-kilometer swim, 32-kilometer mountain bike and a 10-kilometer trail run.

“This definitely gave me quite a bit of confidence going into that,” Sullivan Middaugh said. “And hopefully I can mix it up again in the front.”