The Ishigaki ITU World Cup

Wian Sullwald, junior world triathlon champion, fully realizes that crashing during the bicycle leg of a triathlon event is at times unavoidable. And he can live with that. But there are times when you really don’t want to crash, especially when you have spent a lot of money to compete internationally.

 

This is why Sullwald still gets upset when the thinks about what happened two weeks ago at the Ishigaki triathlon event in Japan.

 

Sullwald started off so well and was one of the first five athletes to finish the 1.5km swim.

 

Unfortunately, he then experienced at first-hand the unpredictability of sport.

 

He raced, at high speed, into a 90 degree corner during the cycling leg and his whole race was over within a mere second.

 

“We competed in wet and cold conditions which made the road quite slippery,” Sullwald explained.

 

“When I raced into the corner, things went seriously wrong. My bike slipped from underneath me and skidded into the barriers.

 

“Luckily I was not seriously injured but my bike was broken, therefore I could not continue racing.

 

“I cannot tell you how frustrated I felt afterwards. I have just wasted a lot of money and had nothing to show for it. I was also hoping to gain a few international ranking points.

 

“What made it even worse was that it felt as if I was going to have a great race.”

 

Sullwald is full of praise for the speed with which Specialized helped him to get his bike repaired.

 

His next race will be on 25 May when he will compete in the African Championship in Morocco.

 

“I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I am going to Morocco to win. Hopefully my luck will hold this time.”

 

Sullwald is not sure who the other athletes in the competition will be, but he realizes that it will be wrong to be over confident.

 

“At every event there is that one athlete who just surprises everybody else.”

 

Sullwald plans to compete in some French Grand Prix events in June, as well as in one or two events of the International Triathlon Union.

 

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