Kyle Smith is talking to Love Taupō from Andorra, a tiny country tucked into the mountains between France and Spain. For a pro triathlete who spends a decent chunk of the year bouncing between training bases, airports and races, it ticks plenty of boxes. Mountains, rivers, hills, trees and a climate that hits the spot. It also feels a little bit like Taupō.
Smith wasn't born in Taupō. Work brought his family to town in 2010, when he was 12. Taupō quickly felt like home. They found their community and, for a sporty kid who had already tried everything from motocross and horse riding to snowboarding and pentathlon, there was no shortage of ways to burn some energy.
What do you remember about arriving in Taupō as a 12-year-old?
[KS] “We just loved the place - the mountain and the lake. I went to intermediate and fell in love with the culture, the sports and the outdoors lifestyle. The accessibility to sport through school was unbelievable, but more importantly we found our community pretty quickly. I got involved with Tri Sport Taupō early and they welcomed me with open arms. They really nurtured me through those very early days of being an athlete.”
How did triathlon enter the picture?
[KS] “The club scene was so strong in Taupō that I kind of stumbled into triathlon, and I guess my talent showed through pretty early. My first race was one of the Monday night duathlons the club put on. I was 12, showed up and somehow managed to win it overall. From then on, I never really looked back.”
Chasing the high performance dream
Things moved quickly for Kyle from there. Local racing led to the junior national pathway, world championships and a couple of junior world titles. By 18, Smith figured chasing the high-performance dream meant leaving Taupō for Triathlon New Zealand’s programme in Cambridge.
Did you feel like you had to leave Taupō to become a professional athlete?
[KS] “I thought, if I want to be a high-performance athlete, I have to train with the high-performance programme. I don’t have many regrets in my career, but moving away at 18 was probably one of the biggest mistakes I made. I truly believe Taupō is one of the best places in the world to train. You’re around family and friends and the facilities are world class. Being at home was probably as important for me as moving away.”
A Taupō champion — winning Ironman 70.3 in 2019
Some of Smith’s biggest career moves would come after returning home. He won 70.3 Taupō on debut in 2019, then finished third in his first full Ironman there two years later, earning a spot at the World Championships. Taupō had become a pretty handy launch pad.
How important were those races in turning this into a career?
[KS] “Winning 70.3 Taupō on debut kind of catapulted me into the career I have now in long course. Then in 2021 I raced my first Ironman, got third and punched my ticket to the World Championships. That was the decision made for me. It became the jump pad into actually being a professional and making money from my job.”
Good reasons to come back to Taupō
There are good reasons Smith keeps coming back. Between the AC Baths, the lake, endless roads and mountain-bike trails, Taupō makes the daily grind of 30-hour training weeks a pretty good one.
What makes Taupō such a good place for an endurance athlete?
[KS] “We have world-class facilities and a world-class training environment. In summer I spend half my time swimming in the lake. It’s the clarity, the freshness, the cleanliness and the temperature. You can swim along the lakefront and around all the little bays. Then we’ve got phenomenal mountain-bike trails as well. It makes training simple and getting out there a pleasure.”
After spending so much time overseas, what does coming home do for you?
[KS] “Taupō is always my anchor. I’m pretty good on the road, but my body never feels 100% when I’m away from home. When I come home, I get into good shape, good fitness and a good mental space. I try to spend as much of the year as I can in Taupō around the race schedule. I’ve even chosen Andorra because it resembles home as much as possible.”
Racing with the Taupō home advantage
There’s also racing here. Smith reckons pulling on the race kit in Taupō squeezes another 10% out of him. At the 2024 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, home advantage took on a whole new meaning.
What do you remember about racing a World Championship at home?
[KS] “I still get goosebumps thinking about 70.3 Worlds and the crowd noise I had for the whole 21K half marathon. It’s the familiar faces - friends, family, school teachers, and the aid stations are often run by kids from the club. It fills me with joy. Racing in Taupō is something I’ll never take for granted.”
What's the biggest misconception about professional athletes?
[KS] “People assume we’re these special people who have everything right and everything under control, but we’re really normal people with normal problems. We enjoy bad food as much as anyone else and we enjoy a beer as much as anyone else. We’re far from perfect. We’re just very good at what we do - swim, bike and run.”
Chasing #1, the Ironman World Championship
What Smith is very good at has already taken him to number two in the world. Now he wants the number above it. There is no dancing around the goal. Smith wants to become world champion, and the biggest prize on his radar is the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. No New Zealand man has won Kona.
What keeps you chasing more?
[KS] “I still want to be a world champion. Hawaii is the ultimate goal. What motivates me is having something to show for all the hard work I put in every day. I was world number two last year and that honestly stung because I wanted to be recognised as the best in the world. To win a world title and be able to say you’re the best in the world - that’s definitely the biggest goal.”
When people talk about Kyle Smith in 20 years, what do you hope they remember?
[KS] “I hope they remember that I was a grounded, nice person who was generous. To be a good person is what I actually want to be remembered by. I guess you could say a warrior on the racecourse, but a nice, grounded person off it. I have the mongrel in me, but I like to be nice, helpful and kind, then switch it off when I’m on a racecourse.”
Who knows where all that will take him. One thing seems a pretty safe bet. He'll keep finding his way back to Taupō.
