Jason West produced a remarkable run split to win CLASH Miami and he almost did the same at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside.

The American clocked a 1:07 half marathon and it was only one final kick from none other than WTCS World Champion Leo Bergère which held him at bay.

West had over three minutes to make up on the man who swept the board over the Olympic distance at the WTCS finale in Abu Dhabi last November – and he so nearly did it, cutting the gap to under 10 seconds in the closing stages.

‘It started coming back’

Chatting afterwards he explained: “I was a little surprised with the gap when I left transition, but I felt like it might be do-able and I think I can run a 1:06.

“But at the first turnaround I’d barely caught any of them. I just thought, man I’m going to keep moving, stay on it and see what happens.

“Then all of a sudden it started coming back real quick to those guys and I was just holding strong, keeping my pace and when it got to 10 seconds I thought it was there but that was a hard race.”

Ironically West will now take the opposite route to Bergère and drop down to Olympic distance for his next race, saying: “I’m going to St. Anthony’s, down in St Petersburg in Florida, one of my favourite races.

“I’ve been there I don’t know how many times but never got a win there so that would be really special for me if I can do it this year.”