Triathlete Tyler Smith feels blessed to be racing against his compatriot at the Americas Triathlon Championships Antofagasta in Chile today.

Smith will be lining up against 33 competitors in the men’s elite. Racing at the same time will be Nicholas Pilgrim, who is part of the 36 entries in the under-23 men.

“We race together with the under-23s, so it’s certainly going to be a competitive race,” Smith told The Royal Gazette.

“It’ll be cool to have another Bermudian in the race. I’ve only got to do that one or two other times, hopefully, it’s something that can become more of a regular occurrence for both of us.

“Nick has had a decent start to the season, I’m sure he kind of knows what he needs to do. It’s been great to watch him come to the senior ranks now.”

Smith has enjoyed a great start to the season with top-ten finishes in three international competitions. He was tenth at the Africa Triathlon Premium Cup Swakopmund, fifth at the Africa Triathlon Premium Cup Mossel Bay and ninth at the Africa Triathlon Cup Yasmine Hammamet.

With the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics qualification window having opened on May 18, the Bermudian is keen to rack up as many points before the qualification period ends in May 2028.

“The whole season’s been top ten finishes, so I just want to keep that trend going,” the 27-year-old said.

“All the races now have Olympic points, and because this is our continental championships it has quite a lot of Olympic points. It’s quite a big deal, that’s why a lot of people are here racing now.

“I’ve done the Pan American Championships three times and I’ve always been within the top ten. This year I’m really looking at what I can do to take that next step, try to be in the top eight or the top five, but it’s going to be difficult.

“We have a tough start list this year. This being the first Pan American Championships of the Olympic qualification period, I have to take it one step at a time and focus on putting together a good race like I have been all season.

“What the end result will be will hopefully be something good for me, but I can’t get too ahead of myself.

“I just have to focus on the step-by-step process, obviously expect a high result for myself, but just try to execute what I can.

“I’ve been to Chile before but this is the first time I’ve been to Antofagasta. It’s a new location and it’ll be new for everyone.

“It’s going to be an interesting course. We have an ocean swim. It’s going to be pretty cold water and very rough conditions.

“We’re going to see how everyone manages that and it’ll be interesting to see who that favours.

“It might not be traditionally the guys that have faster swim, it’s going to be lot for everyone to adapt to, hopefully that makes for an exciting race.”

Smith, whose training base is in Girona, Spain, was the first Bermuda athlete to arrive in Chile when he landed last Saturday.

“It was a good decision to travel early to come across to Chile for this race a week before,” the Olympian said.

“It was a really long trip from Spain. Your body definitely needs a couple days to adapt, recover from the travel, get on the time zone and get ready to race.

“The other thing is that we’re coming from a northern hemisphere summer to a southern hemisphere winter.

“It’s winter now in Chile, the days are shorter and it’s cooler. The water temperature is quite cold, so it’s been good to get here a week in advance to adapt to the climate as well as the time zone and recover from the travel.”

Pilgrim last Saturday put on a strong show to finish seventeenth in the elite men at the Americas Triathlon Cup Montreal. The 23-year is not putting himself under a lot of pressure with unrealistic expectations.

“It’ll be nice to race with Tyler again,” Pilgrim said.

“I haven’t raced him in some time, so it should be fun to see where I can stack up against the big guys.

“I don’t have any real expectations. I’m just going to go out there and do my best and see how I get into a really strong field. It’ll be a good test to see where I’m at.”

Just like Smith, Pilgrim is gearing up for the Central American and Caribbean Games in Dominican Republic later this month.

“After this one I’m coming back to Bermuda for a few weeks and then I’m racing at the CAC Games,” Pilgrim said.

“It will just be Tyler and I representing Bermuda at the CAC Games.”