He’s a Two-Time Xtri champ. Can he Win Norseman, Too?

Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Despite being a rookie racing her win Norway, Canada’s Sam Côté arrives for his first Norseman Xtreme Triathlon as one of the pre-race favourites thanks to his impressive racing over the last two years. The 26-year-old from Montreal, Canada won the CanadaMan/ Woman Xtreme race last year and, just six weeks ago, took another of the Xtri event series races with a win at the SWISSMAN race.

In terms of the actual courses, Côté doesn’t think that the Norseman race is actually any harder than either the races in Quebec or Switzerland – he feels the big difference will be in terms of the water. Last year’s CanadaMan event was held in October in very cold conditions, so Côté feels he will be ready for Saturday’s race in Norway, but he’s anticipating that the weather will still pose the biggest challenge.

“Here it is the changing temperature,” he said in an interview after today’s practice swim. “You never know what you’re going to get int he next 15 minutes because you get up on the plateau at the top and it’s all of a sudden 10 degrees colder and there’s win and there’s snow – anything can happen. So I think the big challenge is going to be to stay flexible and being able to adapt to the different weather changes.”

Côté had an interesting introduction to endurance training as a teenager – some family friends convinced him to join them for a ride, and he was quickly hooked on cycling. He was already doing some running, so he stopped playing hockey and soccer and gravitated towards triathlon. While he experimented with draft-legal racing over the sprint distance for a few years, his “heart has always been in the longer distances,” so it wasn’t long before he had stepped up to longer-distance racing.

After his success at his last two Xtri races, Côté has visions of turning pro, so he spent last winter in Nice in order to get his training done. With that in mind, he might turn his sights to IRONMAN Cozumel in November.

“I feel like it would be a cool challenge to end the year because it’s the total opposite of what I was doing the whole year – I’ve been doing the slowest Ironmans in the world because they’re just hard courses. And then Cozumel is one of the fastest because it’s just flat.”

Cozumel remains very much a “maybe” on his event calendar, depending on how he bounces back from his second Xtreme triathlon in less than two months. First things first – a first go at the Norseman.

Sam Côté’s Squad Wolf

What’s most striking about Côté’s set up is how little he needs to carry in terms of nutrition and hydration – with a support crew ready with that during the race, he doesn’t need to carry as much on his frame.

There are 170 mm Shimano Ultegra cranks; 54/42 chainrings and Dura Ace pedals. Power is handled through a Stages crank.

There’s an 11-30 rear cassette, Dura Ace rear derailleur and Ceramic Speed pulleys to keep things moving.

The Zipp 404 Firecrest wheel set offers the right balance of weight and aero speed. The wheels have GP5000 28 mm tires.

The Squad Aero bars are integrated with the frame.

Côté has gone with a Sella Italia saddle to ensure he’s comfortable both training and racing.

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