Two-time Riverina Tri Series champion Radka Kahlefeldt believes rising teenage talent Ben Devries has a huge future in the sport.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Kahlefeldt and Devries were crowned 2024 champions on Saturday following the final race of the series in West Wyalong.
The 15-year-old finished second to Rory Thornhill to secure the title and Kahlefeldt believed that the rising talent definitely had the potential to achieve big things in the sport.
"I think so," Kahlefeldt said.
"He's committed and he loves the sport, you can see it and he follows everything and the whole family is into the sport.
"He looks great in the water and on the run and he has improved quite a bit on the bike as well which is perfect.
"If he can get out and do some bigger races with kids of the same age then I think we can look forward to seeing a great talent."
Kahlefeldt and her husband Brad have been doing a fair bit of training with Devries over the past few months and she said she was pleased to see him collect his first major title.
"Benny is such a good kid," she said.
"I've been doing some swimming with him on Monday and Friday mornings, then I see him on Thursday at the Fartlek run.
"Brad is also running with him on Tuesday mornings so we see him quite often and he's definitely a growing talent here in Wagga.
"He's so humble and such a nice guy from a really nice family, so it's great to see him doing well.
"I think that was his first proper paycheck at the end of the series which is great."
While Devries won his title through consistency after recording finishes of fourth, first, third and second, Kahlefeldt grabbed hers through domination after cruising to four straight victories.
She said she was happy to have a strong run in the series, but also revealed she was extremely pleased just to compete in all four races.
"I was really happy already at the beginning of the season when the Riverina Tri Series dates were announced, because all of the dates were good for me and I was able to fit all the races in which I couldn't do last year," she said.
"Last year West Wyalong was on the same day as Geelong, so I couldn't do the last race but this year it was one week apart so I was celebrating already.
"It meant I could do all four and I was really happy I could win all of them and see West Wyalong for the first time as it's a pretty cool little race."
The series has been run as a four-race season for the past couple of years and Kahlefeldt revealed she'd love for it to expand to either five or six races for the next running.
"It would be awesome," she said.
"I think there was talk about trying to get Temora back into it and then Brad and I plus the Wagga Triathlon team would love to figure out how to do one triathlon in Wagga.
"It's the Riverina Tri Series and Wagga is the biggest town in the Riverina, so surely we can figure something out so we could have a good triathlon here as well."
Kahlefeldt isn't sitting still for too long following her series win as she revealed she's off to Singapore next week after earning a wildcard entry into the Singapore T100 Pro Triathlon Race on April 13.
"I'm getting ready for Singapore," she said.
"I'm really excited about it and this time next week I'll already be on a plane.
"I'm really stoked because last year when I raced there I had a great race and that was in July last year.
"So this year I'm not coming from Winter which should be even better for me."