"He had the race won from the cycle leg, really."
Wright said the youngster had put in a lot of work since finishing third in the Whanganui Under-13 championship last year.
"He improved his swim style through the school swim team and spent quite a lot of time down at the velodrome with the Wanganui Cycle Club, while also training with the Wanganui Triathlon and Multisport Club," Wright said.
In the team tag triathlon Gibson was forced to step up to Under-16 level with his WCS team racing alongside the Under-19 athletes. Each athlete was required to swim 250m, cycle 7.5km then run 1km.
As the WCS anchor Gibson made up lengths staying with the leading bunch after the 250m swim and cycle legs before finishing the race just 5m behind the podium finishers.
"This was against under-16 and under-19 year olds," Wright said.
The WCS Under-19 team finished out of the money, while none of Gibson's schoolmates won a spot on the individual podium.
However, Tori Bendall from Nga Tawa won bronze in the Under-16 aquathon and finished fifth in the individual triathlon. She then teamed with schoolmate Georgina Bryant to claim silver in the mixed team tag event with two Palmerston North boys.