Brian Bozarth turned in contrasting performances in the three legs to finish a disappointing 64th in his World Championships debut in Montreal yesterday (HK time).
After coming out of the water in midfield after the 1.5-kilometre swim, the 23-year-old cycling specialist was trapped in a sluggish pack on the 40 km cycling leg.
Although in touch with the leaders coming off the bike, he fell behind in the 10 km run, his weakest discipline, finishing in one hour, 54 minutes and 19.2 seconds, about nine minutes adrift of race winner Dimitry Gaag, of Kazakhstan, the reigning Asian champion.
Bozarth, who grew up in Hong Kong but now trains in Australia and the US, said he would now focus on preparing for April's Asian Championships - an Olympic qualifier - in Gamagori, Japan.
He said yesterday's elite men's race was one of his worst. 'It took a lot more out of me than I expected. I was surprised I finished. It was a shame that it happened in the World Championships.
'I had a bad run although the swim and bike were good. I think almost all the competitors finished the bike about the same time. Unfortunately, this reduced the competition to a 10-kilometre running race.