IRON–Man in the making Merlin Tzaros had a dream finish to his Australian Grand Prix Triathlon (AGPT) series, winning at Port Adelaide in a thrilling finish to his triathlon season to come third overall in the series.

Raced on April 16, the Port Adelaide course started with a 400m swim in the Port River, a 15km cycle through the streets of Port Adelaide, and concluded with a 3km run through the historic port precinct.

Merlin was able to hold steady in the swim coming out of the water in seventh place, before making ground on the bike to put him in third for the run home.

It was then a dash to the finish line where Merlin came out victorious in a final sprint to the end with close friend and fellow Victorian Bentley Crisp coming in just three seconds behind.

Merlin said he surprised himself over his performance in his first nationals win.

"Coming into the race, my aim was to podium, but I never thought that I would have a chance of actually winning the whole thing, so to come away with this result is crazy," he said.

"To add in a sprint finish – it just made the whole experience even more exciting and enjoyable."

Endorsed by Triathlon Australia, the AGPT presented tough and brutal events for competitors across three races in Canberra, Gold Coast and Adelaide with representatives from all Australian states.

Merlin's win brought him to a third placed finish overall in the series for the youth 13–15 year old male category, after coming 10th in the Canberra leg in January and sixth at Gold Coast in March.

Merlin said he was extremely happy with his overall placing in the series, despite not having what he felt were his best races in Canberra and Gold Coast.

"In Port Adelaide, everything came together and it was the perfect way to round out the series, with probably the best race I've ever had, so I'm very happy," he said.

"My strength is definitely the run, but this season I've rarely had the chance to show the strength of my run as I was usually too far behind following the swim.

In this race, my swim was very strong by my standards, had a great transition, got onto the bike third, held that position, and then was able to stay with them and come home strong in the run."

Merlin will be shifting his focus to cross country running over the winter, with the goal of repeating his National Cross Country appearance last year.