Olympian Tyler Smith blew his rivals away to win the 2026 Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby.

Better known as a triathlete, Smith decide to test the packed field early with punishing splits, which nobody could match.

Smith crossed the finish line on Dutton Avenue in 1hr 10min 49sec, more than four minutes clear of Ryan Outerbridge, who finished second for the third straight year. Five-times champion Lamont Marshall finished third with Kallan Richardson fourth and Sammy DeGraff fifth. Sean Trott, last year’s champion, finished sixth.

Having last raced in 2017 when he finished fifth, the 27-year-old was delighted to notch up his maiden victory.

“I’m ecstatic to win this race,” Smith told The Royal Gazette.

“So much went into this effort. Behind the scenes I had my family, my girlfriend, my friends, people out on the course handing me off ice, bottles, sponges and I was just hanging on by a thread.

“It was a tough race and I executed really well. I wanted to go through 10K in about 33 minutes. I thought I could run just under 1:10 but waking up today, I felt the heat, felt the humidity and knew this was not going to be a fast day.

“It was going to be a day of survival and I went out conservative and we had a great field.

“We had a really great field assembled today. I think it was a super strong one, Dennis, Ryan, Sean and Lamont, you had a high calibre of runners in this race, so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”

Pre-race favourite Dennis Mbelenzi was forced to pull out after suffering with physical problems mid-race. The 45-year-old was struggling early with the heat and said he was drifting in and out of consciousness

“It was extremely disappointing but this sport can be very humbling,” Mbelenzi said.

“I started to drift in and out of consciousness very early on, just past mile four. I had been running unconscious for about half a mile when I fell down but got up.

“I don’t know why it happened but I was very determined to finish. I do not have a recollection of going up Burnt House Hill and all of Harbour Road.

“I ran for a long stretch unconscious and eventually decided to stop when I could no longer keep going just past mile nine.

“The ambulance took me to the medical tent at the finish and the medics took great care of me, discharging me when all vitals came back to normal levels.”

Smith appreciated the support from the crowd, something he felt carried him through.

“I just had to set my tempo from the start and try to pace it conservative and hold on,” he said.

“I said, get to Crow Lane, get to 10 miles and then it’s just going to be the crowd carrying you home. Luckily they did and that’s what makes Bermuda Day so special.

“Ryan started with me. I knew he’s been running really well overseas, he ran PBs in the 1,500, 5,000, and 10,000, so I knew he was going to be dangerous.

“He’s young and he’s only getting faster. I knew I better take this opportunity to win this thing while I can because these guys are coming up and there’s other young athletes coming up.

“But I knew around Barnes Corner. I could feel that he was under a bit of pressure, I felt his breathing increase and I tried to just stay relaxed and not really put in a big surge.”

Smith will be focusing on Olympic qualification with no plans to defend his title next year.

“I probably won’t run this race again until 2029,” he said.

“It’s kind of been a full circle moment to come back and win this race. I would love to see what I can get the time down to, but maybe that’s going to be a couple years down the line once I’m wrapped up with triathlon and maybe I’m back here.”

The Olympian spoke of how witnessing the battle between Trott and Outerbridge motivated him to make a return to the race.

“I made this decision last year,” the race winner said.

“A year before I was out with an injury. I had stitches in my Achilles and I sat on the sidelines.

“I watched Ryan and Sean Trott come past me up on Middle Road and Verdmont Road, I saw the excitement in the crowd.

“I said, ‘I’m coming back to do this race next year’. I sat down with my coaches at the beginning of the year and said, ‘triathlon’s important, but so is this’.

“This means a lot to the community and I want to come back and do this race. Olympic qualification period for triathlon started this week, so from now on it’s full focus on triathlon and I wanted to just get one race like this under my belt before going back to the Olympic focus.”

Maddie Durkin came home first to win the women’s race in 1:27:55 and finished fifteenth overall. Christine Dailey finished second for the fourth year in a row but produced a remarkable run just three months after giving birth to her third child.

“I’m super proud because a lot of hard work went into achieving this,” Durkin said.

“I started training about nine years ago in sport before that I was a very unhealthy person like, if saw me living days in my Manhattan life and first in Bermuda, you would never picture me here on the on with the winning line.”