Things looked a little different when Miles Stewart won a triathlon world title on the Gold Coast in 1991.
But Stewart, now Triathlon Australia's chief executive, sees plenty of himself in the country's latest hope Jake Birtwhistle as he attempts to do the same in the city on Sunday.
A scintillating run leg in Montreal's last round propelled the Tasmanian to second overall behind two-time defending champion and training partner Mario Mola heading into the Triathlon World Series grand final.
Mola has a 824-point lead and is odds-on favourite to add a third title to the cabinet unless it all unravels at Southport.
But, noting "no one's unbeatable", Stewart won't write off the man who collected Commonwealth Games silver and gold on the same course earlier this year.
"The outfits, the rules, it's all changed," he said.
"But it's still a swim, bike, run and I enjoy watching Jake because he has a rapid finish on him and it's something I had as well.
"It's deadly and I wouldn't want to be near him towards the end of the race."
Mola's ability to maintain top speed for longer has given him the edge all season but Birtwhistle is doing his best to remember his sparring partner isn't invincible.
"What I have noticed is that they are just human, too. They have their bad days and their injury scares," Birtwhistle said.
"It happens to the best ... they just have their ways of dealing with it and get the good results."
A solid performance on Sunday would see the Tokyo 2020 hopeful become Australia's first male medal-winner in the series since Brad Kahlefeldt finished third in 2010.
"I knew I just had to keep hanging in there but it was a massive jump," he said.
"Now I'm stepping up to the podium, it's nice to finally be in there.
"You just have to stay focused and believe that your time will come - but I was impatient, I kept pushing and I wanted it as soon as possible."
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