Having secured what was undoubtedly the biggest win of his career to date, Harry Palmer is hoping ‘The Championship’ success can now propel him on to achieve even greater triathlon success.
Admitting that the victory in Samorin last weekend came at a time when he had ‘low expectations’ after a series of poor results, the 29-year-old Briton said entering the Challenge Family’s signature event was ‘a roll of the dice’ which just so happened to come good.
Having competed at middle-distance events since 2019, last week’s win in Slovakia was his first victory outside of the UK… indeed, his first outside of Wales, having previously won Challenge Wales and IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea twice.
Unhappy with struggles at Salou
However, despite finishing third at IRONMAN Leeds last season behind dominant winner Sam Laidlow, his results at the end of last year and at the start of 2026 were something of a concern – particularly when he struggled to ninth at Challenge Salou earlier this month.
Describing it as a ‘step in the right direction’, he reflected on a come-from-behind victory that saw him having to make up a three-minute deficit on the run after suffering a mechanical issue on his bike.
“What a day! I came into this one honestly with low expectations after Challenge Salou a few weeks ago – the numbers were good in training, but I had such a bad race I questioned whether I was ready for this one, but decided to roll the dice and believe in the work myself and @cheethamcoaching have put in,” he wrote on his Instagram page.
“The lack of a swim warm-up had me feeling like I was swimming through mud and ended up just going backwards. Exiting the water with @malachi_triathlon, I thought we were so far back that a chance of a good result was out the window. But I decided to race to my plan and stay optimistic.’
‘Bluffed’ his way to the finish line
“At the turnaround point, I realised we weren’t too far behind, so made an effort to drop the group and bridge up to the main chase pack. 5km to go, I dropped a chain and had to get off the bike, which wasn’t ideal, but the adrenaline from that gave me a boost to fight back into the group before T2.”
While at one point he admits to thinking that his chances of victory had gone, he decided there was no other option but to go for it, a ploy which clearly paid off for him as he hunted down long-time leader Valdemar Solok (DEN) deep into the run.
“Out of T2 @henryrappo mentioned we had a 3-minute deficit to 1st place – immediately, I think it’s now a race for 2nd place as a best-case scenario. But after lap 1, I had closed 50 seconds and decided it was a do-or-die mission to close the gap and fight for the win.
“Massive congrats to @valdemar_solok for being out in front that long and being rock solid all day – I make the pass with a few km to go and just bluff my way to the finish line!
‘Feels like a step in the right direction’
“This finally feels like a step in the right direction again after some not-so-good results at the back end of last year and the start of this year. Thanks so much to everyone for all the support – friends, family, sponsors – I couldn’t do this without you. 👊🏻
“Finally, congrats to all the other pros out there; it’s a privilege to share the course with you, and a big well done to @valdemar_solok and @will_tri for rounding off the podium.”
Palmer, who is also a co-host on the Uncomfortable Triathlon podcast, spoke about his win in this week’s latest episode, which is available now via their Instagram page HERE.
