Ben Kanute shocked the triathlon world when he nearly got away from favorite Javier Gomez with the 2017 Ironman 70.3 World Championship. Though Ben was pipped halfway through the run leg, the young American held on to take silver, his performance a strong statement of things to come. To cap the year, he clinched the win over the multi-stage Island House Triathlon with a sprint finish over Terenzo Bozzone.

Avid followers of the sport would not have been as surprised. Ben is one of America’s first athletes to come up through the youth triathlon club model rather than the usual collegiate recruitment pathway and as a result is one of the fastest elite athletes USA Triathlon has produced. Contributing to the country’s first Mixed Relay world championship win in 2016 with the fastest individual split, taking mixed relay team silver in 2017, and racing on the Super League Triathlon circuit, expect to see this streak of racing red out in front all day.