They say to understand someone, you have to walk a mile in their shoes.
While he did not quite make it to a mile, Matthew Mcelroy may have gleamed a little from the life of Gabor Faldum after trying to wear his shoes in T2 at WTCS Abu Dhabi.
Mcelroy became a father in December and the stresses of looming parenthood make people do strange things. Racking your bike in another athlete’s slot, dropping your helmet in the wrong box and reaching for someone else’s shoes might be a little much.
“His shoes are two sizes smaller than mine!” laughed Mcelroy about the event. “He was shouting at me and I was like ‘what is happening’.” Luckily, the incident cost neither man nothing time-wise.
At WTCS Abu Dhabi 2022 and the most recent iteration of the event, Mcelroy achieved finishes of 10th and 8th. His trips have therefore been as successful as they have been “eventful”.
With a thirty hour trip to even get to the event, it would need to be worth it.
Back to back top-10 finishes feel good, acknowledged Mcelroy. “However, once you’ve been at the top and you know what your potential is, you want to be up there.”
Abu Dhabi (2023) represented his second highest WTCS finish after a silver medal in Leeds in 2019. Getting back to the podium remains the goal.
One thing he has taken from his recent races is how he is more part of the race as opposed to reacting to it.
“It’s nice to be able to exert myself on the race more,” he explained, “and exert pressure, pull some big turns and make some moves.”
While Abu Dhabi was only over the Sprint distance, it was nonetheless a tough day out.
“It’s only a 53 minute race but it was intense. In the swim, I was pinched early on and then at the first buoy I got flattened.” After the swim, Mcelory was “just behind the chase group (the main pack) in the third group with Jelle (Geens) and we bridged to that group. The lead group were only about 10 seconds ahead but it was such hard work to reel them in. We weren’t very coordinated.”
As they eventually pulled the lead group back, Mcelroy was at least able to pull some turns and help drive the group forward. As the bulk of the field arrived in T2 together, Mcelroy had to be hopeful of a exploiting a running race.
“I had a great winter of running. But then it’s such an intense race. I came in knowing I wanted to run 14 minutes for the 5km and then after the bike I was feeling it.”
With a sub-14 minute personal best in the 5000m, such speeds are definitely within his arsenal. Despite the exertions of the race, he still ran a 14:52.
Looking forward, he won’t be racing many World Cups this year. After finishing on three consecutive podiums last year, that might come as a slight surprise. The rationale is that last autumn his goal was to help place three American men into the top-26 of the Olympic qualification rankings. That would go a long way to securing three men’s slots at the Paris Olympic Games for team USA.
Having accomplished that, he is now focused on WTCS events and the Paris Olympic Test Event. With Paris and the WTCS Final in Pontevedra forming the key opportunities for American Olympic qualification, Mcelroy will be hoping for more top-8 finishes.
As long as he can keep the right shoes on his feet, he has a great shot of getting there.
