Australian triathlete Ryan Bailie has finished fifth in his Commonwealth Games debut.
Bailie, 24, was the first Australian across the line in the race around Strathclyde Park in Glasgow.
“It was epic out there. I left everything out on the course,” Bailie said afterwards.
Olympic medallist brothers Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee took the race by storm, stretching the field out early in the race.
The Brownlees opened up a break on the field with 300m to go on the swim and never looked back, running away to take gold and silver.
Bailie exited the water with fellow Australian and training partner Aaron Royle fifteen seconds behind the English duo but were unable to bridge the gap at the start of the bike leg.
“We tried to get across that small gap to the Brownlees but we didn’t have the legs coming off the swim to close it.
“The race got away when that little gap opened up and it was enough for them. We didn’t have the legs to shut it at the early stage of the bike.
“After that, it’s a case of ‘what do we do? Do we wait or what?” Bailie said.
After briefly attempting to draft together on the bike to catch the Brownlees, the Australian pair sat up and waited for the chase pack of 16 riders to avoid expending energy in the warm race conditions.
“We ended up waiting for that second pack to come and the lead just grew and it was a matter of saving it and trying to run for that last spot on the podium.”
With 15km left on the bike, Bailie teamed with New Zealander Tom Davison and attempted to make another play to try to catch the leading pair.
Despite his aggression, it was not to be for the Australian, who sat up for the second time – this time with one lap to go on the bike – to save his legs for the run.
In the pursuit for bronze, Bailie again dug deep throughout the run leg and ultimately crossed in fifth, just 22 seconds behind South African Richard Murray who won bronze, and just 3 seconds behind Canadian Andrew Yorke in fourth.
Fellow Australians Aaron Royle and Dan Wilson were ninth and tenth respectively.
Bailie will now race the mixed relay triathlon on Saturday, scheduled for 12.00pm local time (9.00pm AEST).
“I can’t wait to get out there again on Saturday and race in the green and gold in the relay,” Bailie said.
The combined team event consists of two men and two women from each country, competing in a ‘super-sprint’ triathlon before tagging their next team mate.
Updates for the relay will be posted via the Sam Maxwell Sports Management Twitter Account.