It’s good to be back and great to win but please, please, please don’t make Dylan McCullough’s Asia Cup comeback win any bigger than it is.
That was the message from the man of the moment himself in China on Saturday evening after he’d won Asia Triathlon Cup Lianyungang in an impressive hooter-to-tape performance – following 574 days out with a spine stress fracture and associated Achilles injuries.
The 25-year-old Aucklander eased off on the run with the work already done in the swim and on the bike to win by 10 seconds from China’s Xirui Zhang. Semen Kashitsyn, competing under the Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) banner, rounded out the podium.
It was all eerily similar to his last start at Tongyeong in South Korea where McCullough broke away from lanky Pole Maciej Bruzdziak in T2 for his maiden World Triathlon Cup win in October 2024. That is turn was reminiscent of his Oceania Sprint Championship victory in Tasmania the previous March, the only difference being that he made his break on the bike in hilly Devonport.
McCullough knows he can’t control the delight of family, friends and his army of fans back home and he’ll no doubt have taken a moment on the phone with coach Greg Fraine to celebrate what is a seismic moment in the scheme of things these past 18 months.
His world ranking of 269 is set for a significant boost when World Triathlon does its weekly recalculation overnight Monday NZ time but the Paris Olympian knows he still has a way to go before he starts getting really excited about his LA 28 Games ambitions.
“It was nice to be back racing after so long off. Definitely a bit of a shock to the body but I’ll be better for it,” McCullough told SBR-Tri.com.
“[The race] ended up just being an individual time trial from the swim with a solo bike and run, [the former] on probably the hardest bike course I’ve done.”
McCullough (57:41) didn’t delve into his feelings about the win and especially didn’t want folk at home to read too much into his 15:26 split for the 5km run – “just did what I needed to do” he said of the time which was only the 17th fastest of the day.
It was outstripped by countryman Will Taylor’s 15:22 enroute to 9th in 58:34, one of his career-best results. Taylor finished just two places behind Sydney-based Kiwi Joel Lange (58:30) who continued his impressive start to 2026 while Wellington’s Christian Davey ran to 38th in the 70-strong field before promptly packing up his kit bag, jumping on a bullet train to Wuhu 500km away for a 7:30pm arrival and a 8:30am start in a China Pro Series Race Sunday morning.
McCullough will now refocus on next week’s Osaka Cup in Japan, another Asian Conti Cup where NZL team-mates Henry McMecking, Gus Marfell, Benjamin Airey and Caleb Wagener are also on the men’s start list. Add Brea Roderick, Sophie Webber, Charlotte Brown and Amara Rae in the women’s race and the Kiwi interest will again be strong.
“Another race next weekend so hopefully a little race fitness and sharpness was gained today to take into next week,” McCullough said, not shifting gear from his ‘let’s keep a lid on this’ tempo.
SBR gets McCullough’s Modus Operandi but won’t be alone in doffing its cap to the Paris Olympian’s comeback. Much tougher assignments loom but as far as comebacks go, that was mightily impressive.
