It is the sort of international schedule befitting Usain Bolt or Alberto Contador and is all geared towards providing the young Tasmanian with the best chance of joining their ranks at next year’s Olympic Games.

It was also designed to build up to the last appointment in the US where Birtwhistle landed the biggest win of his career by claiming the under-23 triathlon world title in Chicago.

‘‘It gets pretty busy,’’ the 20-year-old said as he relaxed at home in Riverside.

‘‘It actually feels weird being back home. I was last here at the end of April and left Australia in the middle of May.’’

Birtwhistle said adding world under-23 gold to his two world junior silvers was extremely satisfying, especially after suffering a grade one hamstring strain a week out from the race.

‘‘At first it just felt like another race and did not sink in for a few days.

‘‘Because I was always surrounded by people it only really hit me for the first time when I was alone in my hotel room thinking about it.

‘‘That was when I realised how special it was and that I had achieved what I had been working towards for 12 months. It was an awesome feeling.

‘‘Coming straight out of the juniors, I knew it was going to be competitive but I would not have been happy with anything but gold.

‘‘I got to learn so much out of the year and to be able to put that into practice and execute my plans in Chicago was pretty cool.’’

The former Riverside Primary, High and Launceston College student thanked Triathlon Australia physio Dean Sullivan for nursing him through the hamstring injury.

‘‘If I was a footballer it would have been a one-week injury so I knew it was borderline. All I could do was rest up and keep icing it.

‘‘The physio worked on it and we constantly monitored it leading up to the race.

‘‘The day before I went for a run and ride and pushed to about 90 per cent but the race itself was the first time I really went flat out.’’

World championship victory, to go with a duathlon title claimed last year, an Australian Youth Olympic Festival gold medal the year before and a world schools cross-country title in 2012, completed a roller-coaster season for Birtwhistle.

Making his debut on the elite ITU world series, he landed a morale-boosting ninth place in Yokohama (where his time of 1:48:17 was just 77 seconds behind the winner) but faced several disappointments, including the Olympic test event in Rio de Janeiro where compatriot Aaron Royle’s sixth place earned him selection to the Games.

‘‘I’d had a few disappointing results during the middle of the season, including Rio, but getting a top 10 in the world series was a huge positive.

‘‘If I’d been told that at the start of the season I would have taken it for sure and it gave me a lot of confidence going to Chicago.’’

Birtwhistle will finish the year with a couple of non-drafting events in Nepean and Noosa and another combined with a holiday on Hamilton Island before returning to Falls Creek at the end of November to resume training with Jamie Turner’s Woolongong Wizards.