After crossing the finish line in 71st place out of 72 finishers at the World 16-19 Junior Triathlon Championships in Portugal in May of this year, 16-year-old Bermudian Coyatito Smith might have been forgiven for wondering whether he belonged in a field of such class.

But six months later, after some promising results in 2004 both in Bermuda and abroad, Smith, now 17, has decided that on completion of his studies at CedarBridge Academy in June next year he will take a year out from his studies to train full-time for triathlon.

Smith has set his sights on the 2005 Junior Triathlon World Championships on September 10 next year in Japan and has embarked on a demanding and ambitious training and racing schedule towards this goal.

His long term target is to attain a high placing in the 2006 Junior Triathlon World Championships, his last race in the 16-19 junior elite age group, and if ready to move up to the longer distance, a spot on Bermuda's 2006 Commonwealth Games team.

Smith's coach Dave Morrison recalls the first conversation he had with Smith after the Junior World Championships in Portugal.

"I think he was a little shell shocked by the standard of the competition and the size of some of the juniors competing," says Morrison. "When he returned to Bermuda we sat down and chatted about it. Coy doesn't say too much but I knew that he had come home determined to show that he could compete at that level and was prepared to step up his training."

After the 2004 World Championships, Smith embarked on a tough six-day-a-week, twice-a-day training schedule and his efforts paid off with some encouraging results.

At the AON Bermuda National Sprint Triathlon Championships, he placed third overall. Thanks to a Government sports award and assistance from the Bermuda Triathlon Association, he then participated in an International Triathlon Union Solidarity Camp in Edmonton, Canada culminating in the Pam American Triathlon Championships at which he placed a respectable 21st despite carrying the beginnings of a flu bug that laid him low for a week after his return to Bermuda.

Smith returned to Canada at the end of July to train with Canadian Olympic coach Barrie Shepley and competed in the Canadian Junior National Championships where he placed 27th in a field that included not only the best junior Canadians but also seven elite US juniors who all finished in the top 20.

Smith then produced a breakthrough race just two weeks later in the Quebec 16-19 Provincial Triathlon Championships, taking the bronze medal.

Even more encouraging was the fact that the two athletes that finished just 30 seconds ahead of him were the third and fifth placed Canadian finishers at the Canadian Junior National Triathlon Championships.

Although overshadowed by the return of Bermuda Olympian Tyler Butterfield to compete in the Bank of Bermuda Triathlon, Smith produced another strong performance, finishing fourth overall with only Butterfield and the talented Naude brothers ahead of him.

Smith is currently in his winter base training schedule which includes work-outs in the gym with a specialist trainer to build strength. A typical weekly schedule sees him in the gym three times, working on hills on his bike, running dunes at Horseshoe Beach, swimming in the pool or ocean four or five times and on long easy runs and bike rides, or bikes followed by runs, with some of the rides as long as three hours.

"Coy is a talented athlete and impressed Canadian Olympic coach Barrie Shepley," noted Morrison, "But he has a very slight frame and needs to develop the strength needed to take him to the next level where the top athletes are swimming 750 metres in under nine minutes and, after the 20 kilometre bike, are running the 5K in 15 minutes flat."

Smith knows that to achieve his goals in triathlon whilst maintaining his studies requires some sacrifice especially in his social life but is excited about the new season ahead.

Amongst his many medals and trophies, he keeps a picture of himself taken with 2000 Olympic and 2002 Commonwealth Triathlon Champion Simon Whitfield with whom he trained for a few days in Canada as a reminder of what can be achieved with hard work.

A key component in his training for the 2005 Junior Worlds will be a two-month stay in the UK where Smith will train with the British Junior Elite Programme and participate in a six-race junior elite series which will include the British Junior Triathlon Championships. Details are being finalised for him to train in Eastbourne with former top UK professional triathlete Glenn Cook, a six-time British Triathlon Champion and World Championship silver medallist, who coaches Oliver Freeman, second at the 2004 Junior World Championships in May and the current British and European Junior Triathlon Champion.

Smith knows that it would be hard to emulate Tyler Butterfield's bronze medal performance in the 16-19 age group at the 2001 Junior World Championships but the youngster is not looking too far ahead knowing that there is plenty of hard work to be done before the Junior Worlds just ten months away.