The IRONMAN World Championship in Kona had everything from multiple jellyfish stings at the start of the swim to epic blow ups in the marathon.
But was there a bigger hard luck story than that of Trevor Foley? And could the 25-year-old be the man to end the United States’ winning drought in the iconic race?
Foley was more than eight minutes off the pace in the swim in Hawaii but then brilliantly worked himself into contention on the bike.
He could be seen on the live broadcast referencing the power he was putting down on two wheels and it all meant that approaching T2 he had put himself right in the mix, especially with his incredibly strong run to come.
But then disaster struck when he was unclipping as he was thrown over the handlebars, an incident which would end his race soon afterwards.
Remarkably – and despite taking time to dust himself down – he was still one of seven men to go under the old bike course record but, try as he might in T2, he was unable to start the run and made a heartbreaking exit.
‘I truly believe I can win’
Writing on Instagram soon after said: “Crashed out at the @ironmantri World Champs, after setting myself for an amazing day thru the swim/bike.
“Thru 111.5 miles of the 112 mile course I was on pace to become the second fastest cyclist in Kona history, only second to non other than @samlaidlow
“I went handle bars over and hit my head, cut up my back & broke my @speedbar.nl & @feltbicycles
“To say I’m devastated would be an understatement, I was setting myself up to compete with the top 5/10 guys in the world, in my specialty, the run.
“MRIs & head scans are already being scheduled. Also thank you to @crowiealexander for helping me to my feet after the crash.
“One positive I learned from today though, I truly believe I CAN win this race one day!”
‘He still had his ace to play’
The @crowiealexander he references is Craig Alexander who knows exactly what it takes to win at Kona having triumphed there on no fewer than three occasions.
And the Aussie has now highlighted Foley as a man who could potentially be the first American since 2002 to win on the Big Island.
Speaking on the Lance Armstrong WEDŪ / THEMOVE podcast focussing on the fallout from the IMWC, which is embedded at the bottom of this article, Alexander said: “I want to give a shoutout to a young kid who ended up having a tough day – Trevor Foley.
“I was standing about 200 to 300 metres from the end of the bike course and this kid was in the front of the group that Cam Wurf was in and by all reports he’d been sat on the front which is a tough place to be.
“This kid’s a runner. He had a scholarship for running in college, he went to the University of Florida.
“Anyway he’s coming in for the end of the bike and taking his feet out of his shoes and it happened right in front of me.
“He popped his feet on top of the shoes and one of the shoes has hit the ground and the bike high-sided and flipped him off. He landed on his head and shoulder – I went to pick him and he was in shock.
“He was in the top 10 or top 15 at the time and still had his ace to play as the run was coming.
“But he couldn’t head out on the run, he ended up in the medical. Your heart goes out to him.
“But he’s a kid to look out for. He’s certainly one to watch.”
Despite that Kona heartbreak, Foley has had the best season yet in his fledgling career with three wins, the highlight being his first full-distance one at IRONMAN Lake Placid when he saw off a stacked field thanks to a 2:36 marathon.
