Bermuda triathlete Dylan Eiselt is dreaming big after putting on an impressive display to twice finish second to American Daniel Morales in the youth boys races at the Clermont Draft Legal in Florida over the weekend.

The youngster has now set his sights on qualifying for the 2026 Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal.

“I’m working towards qualifying for the Youth Olympics,” the 14-year-old told The Royal Gazette.

“I’m racing in Virginia on May 3 and I’m going to push hard at that race. I think I can qualify for the Youth Olympics.”

Eiselt’s display in Florida was a massive improvement from the tenth and eleventh positions he achieved at the same competition last year.

“It was really nice to improve on my performance last year and finish second,” he said.

“Last year I was a year younger and had only resumed triathlon after three years because of my knees, and it was also not in Bermuda so tenth was really good for me. Having a whole year to train hard and come second is really nice.

“The guy who won was a better swimmer than me and so were most of the Americans. Our run was about the same, but I had to put so much power into the bike, so going into the run was harder for me because he had more gas left in the tank.

“I found the competition a very fun two days. I’m sure with me doing so well on the first day, it also gave my team-mates more confidence to push harder on the second day.”

On Saturday, after navigating the 375-metre swim, ten-kilometre-bike ride and 2.5-kilometre run, Eiselt crossed the line in 31min 52sec, 16 seconds behind Morales.

It was also a good opening day for two other Bermudians, as Rory Shepherd and Sanchez Smith were third and fourth, respectively, of the 48 participants.

Jasper Lau came in thirteenth, Jens Drea was two places down, Spencer Haldeman secured 22nd just ahead of Ethan Smith. Rohan Roopra and Jacob Leclerc also finished close together in 26th and 27th with Dominic Wright 31st. Lucas Bule and Ronan Davidge did not finish.

The next day, while Eiselt had a better time on the bike than Morales, 12 seconds still separated him and the Texan. Shepherd finished fourth after receiving a ten-second penalty, Lau, Drea and Haldeman came one after the other in fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth.

Ethan Smith secured nineteenth, Leclerc finished 22nd, followed by Sanchez Smith, who endured an uncomfortable afternoon, as he battled cramp to finish 24th.

Bule overcame mechanical issues with his bike the previous day to finish 27th, Wright came home 30th and in a highly encouraging performance that delighted the crowd, Davidge persevered to clinch 38th of 47 starters.

Roopra’s race ended prematurely after he was involved in a high-speed crash, a mishap which broke his helmet and left him with cuts and bruises.

For the girls, Sofia Leclerc was Bermuda’s best performer in ninth position on Saturday, closely followed by Naomi MacGuinness in tenth. Zara Bule settled for fourteenth, Colette Durkin was four places down, Riana Robinson 23rd, Isla Cooze 25th, Iris Duda 31st and Kelise Wade 36th.

Leclerc settled for tenth on Sunday, Robinson was twelfth and MacGuinness thirteenth with her time of 8:58 the fastest run among the girls on the day. Cooze came eighteenth, Bule settled for 24th, while Wade rounded off the Bermudian contingent in 36th place from 49 starters.

Durkin suffered a nasty crash on the bike, coming down heavily and could not continue the race. Duda had a foot injury that flared up overnight on Saturday, which meant that she did not start.

Coach Neil de Ste Croix was pleased by the effort put in by the island’s talent over the two days.

“The performances this weekend are a testament to the youth development programme developed by the Bermuda Triathlon Association,’’ he said.

“The athletes all recorded personal bests and some breakthrough performances. Being the season opener, it bodes well for the 2025 season.”