20 more seconds. Tyler Mislawchuk puts it all on the line in Paris

As he ran through the halfway point of the marathon at today’s Olympic triathlon, Tyler Mislawchuk was running with Leo Bergere and Pierre Le Corre, the two Frenchmen who were enjoying the support of hundreds of thousands of French fans as they ran for an Olympic medal. Mislawchuk would eventually fade from medal contention over the final four km of running, but there’s no doubt he gave it his all in his third Olympic appearance. We caught up with him after the race to get his thoughts:

For me, whether I was fourth or 55th it doesn’t really matter. I tried to win a medal and I went out there and was basically in third place with the two French guys for five and a half or 6 km.

At my last Olympics there was the injury and with all the stuff that happened there was a lot of ‘what ifs.’ I have no ‘what ifs’ on the day, I went for it, it was absolutely everything. I vomited 10 times after the race … it got hot in the last laps.

First I want to thank my supporters around the world. Without them I wouldn’t be here. I’m just a kid from Winnipeg, well, specifically Oak Bluff, where it’s –50 in the winter, and I’m here at the Summer Olympics. You know, I came fourth at the Manitoba Games, I couldn’t even get on the podium there. 15 years later, I’m fighting for a medal at the Olympics.  For me, I did everything I could over the last three years. I came back from an Achilles tear, concussion,  crashes. You name it, I’ve had it in the last three years. I got to the start line healthy and gave it my all, I’m proud of the effort. You want more, but that’s all I had.

Yee takes a race for the ages to win gold at Paris Olympics

The whole time I was telling myself 20 more seconds. From about two km in I was saying 20 more seconds for the rest of your life, and I did that until 6 km. Then I kept doing it, but I ran out of a bit of steam. Unfortunately, the race is 10 km, not 6 km, and the last four km was an eternity.

There are thousands of people I could thank, from the people who introduced me to sports, my coach now. My family, my friends, my girlfriend, there’s way too many people to thank. I thank them just as much as the people who also wrote me off in the last three years. You know, there’s videos podcast, anything saying that I was done and wouldn’t be world class again and then to be running for third place in the Olympics and then end up ninth, it’s just as much credit to them as it is the people that love me and supported me through high and low.

With files from Marley Dickinson