Cormac Nisbet On Going After That Pro Triathlon License
Having finished 7th in the 18-24 Age Group at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in 2025, Cormac Nisbet had big plans for 2026… to qualify and take his Professional Racing License.
Although the year started with a DNF, Cormac shares his mindset and racing. Read below to find out how he’s tracking for the Pro license.
(SPOILER: He's only gone and done it!)
I hate pulling out of races. At my season debut in Gran Canaria, the sun beat down hard through the dusty Calima on the island and despite the early start, conditions were brutal. Climbing above 30 degrees within just 1 hour of racing. It was one of those days where the body did not feel itself all day - struggling to do numbers which in training would be easy. I could have ploughed on and finished, sure, but the sensible play was to save the matches for another day - Outlaw Half in 3 weeks time - I opted for the latter.
In the period following, I had a tough block of 3 weeks, knowing I needed to build on some fitness into Outlaw. I was heading into exam season at university too, meaning I could manage my team a bit easier without structured lectures and contact hours. What ensued, was a really clean set of training, ticking off the basics well and a productive run in. In the week leading up to race day, I had a feeling that I was in with a chance at a podium if I pieced together a perfect race.
Outlaw starts ridiculously early, in the water at 6 means a 2:45am alarm and rice porridge plus RedBull at 3am. I felt calm on race morning, confident I was surrounded by a familiar environment and that the work would pay off.
The swim was slightly shortened due to regulations and I was keen to pace it slightly more conservatively than normal - meaning I started a good few minutes down on the leaders out of the rolling start.
I came out of the water circa 90-120s back off the main contenders for the day and set out on the bike leg through Nottinghamshire. Picking off some people early before a lonely LT1 session on home roads. My power meter never connected out of T1 meaning I was riding slightly blind. I actually think this helped me to some extent, as you can end up chasing numbers over 2 hours. Instead, I focused on keeping HR in check and racing a sporting course to speed. Coming into T2 and the chip timing was a little ropey, so I didn’t know immediately where I was, but felt a podium was still on. It ended up being the fastest bike of the day and 45 seconds faster than my time the year previous.
A quick T2 and it was out onto the run course, a discipline I really struggled with in 2025. Thankfully I’ve been able to stack a few more miles in over the winter and felt good through the first lap - still blind on where I was in the race. After 6k I received my first bit of intel - I was leading, with a 90 second margin. I knew Thomas in second would be running strong and so I didn’t really have many cards left to play at this point. I had to hold pace and hope that a) I could stay the distance and b) it would be enough for the win.
Coming round with a lap to go and the deficit was down to around a minute - I should be safe - but it’s tight. The last 5k were a struggle, and I knew I had to keep the pedal down - I’ve lost too many TTs in my days by a handful of seconds to let myself give away any time now.
Coming down the finish chute I basically collapsed over the line - before being told I had the win by a handful of seconds. This really was a dream come true as it marked not only my first ever victory in the sport but also the criteria for my professional license.
I now look forward to racing around the world in the professional field, starting this weekend at Challenge Gdansk. I am feeling good and excited for this new chapter!
Cormac finished 16th at Challenge Gdansk, in his first Professional race.
