SILVER START TO AUSSIE CAMPAIGN
The 17-year-old from Brisbane came from behind to blitz the field and take home Youth Olympic Silver in just over an hour in a total time of 1:01:04.39
"It's amazing," she said. "It hasn't really sunk in yet but it feels amazing."
With the swim leg being Salthouse's weakest of the three, the young star emerged from Singapore's East Coast Park waters in the back of the pack, with a lot of work to do to catch the other 31 athletes.
A smooth transition and a calm and relaxed attitude saw Salthouse pull through to finish the first of three bike laps in the leading group.
"I knew that I have been training really hard on the bike so I just relaxed and thought ‘I can bridge to the front of the pack'", Salthouse said.
The 20 kilometre bike leg saw a number of incidents as riders lost control in the wet conditions brought about by early rain and intense humidity. Salthouse avoided the crashes and gained on her opponents, finishing the bike leg in second place.
"I didn't really notice the conditions," Salthouse said. "It's good that it's overcast though. On the run you really feel it set in at the three kilometre mark but you know you are nearly there.
"Running is my strongest so I relaxed in there and once I was in the pack I knew I could get on the podium.
"It was really important to get to the front of the pack. My tactics were to go hard for the first one and a half k's, try and get a good spot, relax into it and then really go hard for the last two and half."
Japanese triathlete Yuka Sato was not in the mix until the last leg but produced the run of a lifetime to win the event in a time of one hour and 49.69 seconds. Kelly Whitley from the United States took home bronze.
The future certainly looks bright for Salthouse. So what's next?
"Hopefully a senior Olympics in 2016," she said without hesitation. "I'll be there."
Press Release issued by AOC