Middaughs claim top-10 finishes in long course race at XTERRA World Championships in Molveno, Italy

EagleVail’s first family of triathlon capped off a wet, cold and muddy XTERRA World Championships with a pair of top-10 finishes on Saturday in Molveno, Italy. Sullivan Middaugh and his younger brother, Porter, placed sixth and ninth in the signature long course race at the 29th-annual event, while their dad, 2015 world champion Josiah Middaugh, recovered from a brutal bike crash to place 12th.

“In a race where anything can and will happen, we were fortunate to get our bikes and bodies around the course mostly in one piece,” Josiah Middaugh stated in a social media post after the event.

“I felt strong the whole day but made some small mistakes that lost me some time,” added Sullivan Middaugh, who captured his second-straight short-track world title two days prior. “Looking forward to next year with worlds coming back to the USA in Ruidoso.”

Félix Forissier and Loanne Duvoisin each captured their first XTERRA world titles on Saturday. Forissier covered the 1.5-kilometer swim through Lake Molveno, 32-kilometer mountain bike ride and 10-kilometer trail run in 2 hours, 44 minutes, 18 seconds. The Frenchman established a 28-second lead coming off the bike and extended it with the fastest run split of the day to hold off Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen (2:45:52) and three-time defending world champion Arthur Serrières (2:47:13).

“I had two super strong guys in the front,” Serrières told XTERRA. “I’m super happy for Félix, he worked really hard, and I’m so happy for him.”

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Duvoisin dominated the final two disciplines as well, cruising to a four-minute win over Solenne Billouin, who was also going for a four-peat.

“I couldn’t ask for more. The bike was really tough, and I tried to do my best there, but I knew I could play my cards on the run,” she told XTERRA. “Overall everything went great today.” 

More than 1,000 athletes from 54 nations competed in the fourth and final Italian edition of the world championships, which moves to Ruidoso, New Mexico next year. The air temperature was a brisk 52 degrees at the start and steady rains all week turned the technical, root-filled forest trails into a muddy nightmare. Even the top athletes were seen dismounting their bikes and running several of the steepest sections.

“We had the sloppiest race to date,” Josiah Middaugh said in his Facebook post. “We knew dealing with adversity would be the name of the game and we just had to stay in the fight.”

Sullivan Middaugh experienced some chain troubles on the bike leg, but came through the finish in 2:52:40, less than a minute behind New Zealander Kieran McPherson. Josiah Middaugh was able to reel in his youngest son late in the bike leg and offered up encouragement exiting the last singletrack section. They would have started the run together had Josiah Middaugh not wiped out along the cobblestone streets and stairs winding through the small Italian village.

“I hit the deck so hard and fast I have no idea what happened,” he said. No joint along his left side was left unscathed. When he finally stood up, he found his bike shoes still attached to the pedals and his scraped handlebars crooked. Porter Middaugh split a 44:23 on the run to finish in 2:56:12, kicking past Sebastien Carabin to finish ninth. Meanwhile, the pain along Josiah Middaugh’s hip, knee and ankle prevented him from expressing his full fitness on the run, but he was able to find some rhythms along the flats to hold on for 12th (2:58:45) in his 24th world championship appearance.

“I still found excitement toeing the line with the top off-road triathletes in the world, being back with the XTERRA community,” he said. “And sharing that experience with my boys.”