Hilton Head Island native Jack Felix used a strong swim to set the tone and raced to a seventh-place finish at the West Des Moines CAMTRI Sprint Triathlon American Cup on Sunday.
Felix went into the race hoping for a top-10 showing and delivered on a hot afternoon in Iowa. The 23-year-old was 11th coming out of the water after covering the 750-meter swim in 9:03, which he called one of his best swims in recent memory, if not his best as a triathlete.
“I’ve been doing a lot of swim focus in my training so I could be that front-of-the-pack type swimmer,” Felix said. “So it’s really nice to see all that hard work pay off and put me in good position coming out of the water.”
Felix made up ground with a quick transition to join the lead group transitioning to the bike and posted the fourth-fastest 20K cycling split at 29:28 to maintain a spot at the front of the pack.
Another quick transition put Felix in strong position for a top-10, and he held on with a 17:41 5K run and a total time of 57:53.
Felix was the third American finisher behind champion Eli Hemming (56:18) and runner-up Tony Smaragiewicz (56:26).
Felix is unsure when his next opportunity to race will come, but Sunday’s strong showing left him eager to get back to San Diego and resume training.
“I accomplished all the goals I had for the race today,” Felix said. “I really can’t be disappointed at all.”