Smith activates ‘mongrel’ mode after revealing deadly diagnosis on eve of T100 Vancouver

🇨🇦 Kyle Smith has finally revealed the seriousness of the condition that saw him a late scratching from the T100 season opener in Singapore in April and return a nearly-but-not-quite 4th in his delayed series bow in San Francisco a fortnight ago.

The Taupo 28-year-old developed Rhabdomyolysis after overcooking his pre-race heat training for Singapore.

“Rhabdo” causes muscle to disintegrate which in turn leads to toxic components of a sufferer’s muscle fibers entering the circulation system and kidneys. It can cause permanent kidney damage and at worst, death, but Smith sagely backed off once diagnosed, as he revealed in the PTO’s T100 Vancouver YouTube Preview.

“Just really overdid the heat preparation to get ready for the brutal conditions of Singapore and gave myself rhabdomyolysis, which can be pretty serious at the other end of things,” Smith said. 

“But I caught it pretty early. So, yeah, it was just a couple of weeks off training and so, yeah, I’m really confident that I’m back in really good shape. Obviously that hasn’t been tried and tested on the [Vancouver] race course yet, but it’s obviously what I can see in training, the numbers that I’m doing. 

“I’m in a pretty good space and so I’m ready to, yeah, tough it out and go full mongrel.”

Of the seven athletes ahead of him in the season standings – Rico Bogen, Marten Van Riel, Youri Keulen, Mika Noodt, Hayden Wilde, Jelle Geens and Leo Bergere – only injured fellow Kiwi Wilde and Bergere are not on the Vancouver start list for early Sunday NZ Time.

It means Smith won’t have it easy trying to improve his ranking although PTO world No.4 is backing the consistency that took him to second overall last season behind inaugural T100 champion Van Riel. 

“I think I’m an athlete who can stay, like I showed last year, quite consistent all season long. And I feel like some of these athletes can have really good performance and then sort of fade off in other races,” Smith said.

“So I think all of the races that I line up in, I have a shot.”

No Waugh, No Worries
Series leader Kate Waugh (GBR) is MIA but the women’s field for Vancouver includes Julie Derron, Taylor Spivey and Taylor Knibb who are ranked 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively.

Also racing are Lucy Charles Barclay, the Brit who was third in Singapore and comes in fresh from victory at last weekend’s Ironman Pro Series 70.3 Eagleman in Maryland, plus Aussie world No.5 Ashleigh Gentle who has been left searching for answers after off-key 6th and 11th placings in Singapore and San Fran respectively. 

Kiwi Hannah Berry, racing at Ironman Cairns this weekend, is 12th in the T100 standings after her brilliant 4th in debut in Singapore.