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

Better known as a triathlete, Smith decided 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 and in 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.”

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

“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 and I knew he’d been running really well overseas as he ran PBs in the 1,500, 5,000, and 10,000 metres, 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.”

The Olympian spoke of how witnessing the battle between Trott and Outerbridge last year 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. The Olympic qualification period for triathlon started this week.

“From now on it’s full focus on triathlon. I wanted to just get one race like this under my belt before going back to the Olympic focus.”

For the third time on the bounce Outerbridge was second, something the 23-year-old found hard to accept.

“To be honest, it’s a bit disappointing,” Outerbridge said.

“I wanted to come out here and get the victory. I gave it my all, hats off to Tyler, he’s a world-class athlete and he showed that today.

“He showed why he’s an Olympian at the end of the day. There’s nothing I could have done about it.

“I fell off from Tyler a bit early to be honest, about four or five miles in. I started to feel the early pace he set and it caught up to me towards the mid to second half of the race, but I was able to hold on for second place.”

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 indicated that 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.

“I’d like to congratulate the podium finishers Tyler, Ryan and Lamont for incredible performances on a tough day.

“Many thanks to all the fans on the way today who showed me so much love when I was falling apart. Many begged me to stop but in my mind I was determined to finish, although the body didn’t allow me.

“I will rest up and ponder about how to proceed from this. I am obviously disappointed to have let down those who believed in me, but I gave it everything I had today and make no excuses at all for this performance.”

On a successful day for triathletes, 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. If you saw me living my Manhattan life and first in Bermuda, you would never picture me here on the winning line.

After three years of finishing second to Gayle Lindsay, Dailey had to settle for the runner-up position again, an outcome the 39-year-old gladly accepted.

“I had a really fun run and had an awesome race,” she said.

“I just went out and was enjoying the race as per usual and it ended up being a nice result.

“It’s funny because every year I’m like, oh, ‘next year is my year’, then I keep coming second. This was a surprise, it was nice to have second position.

“Obviously, it would be nice to come first, maybe we can get there one day. Maddie’s older than me, so there’s hope for me to win it in future.”