Klagenfurt. On his way to the World Championship event in
Hawaii, BMW brand ambassador Alessandro Zanardi has bettered his
personal best time in a long distance triathlon. This Sunday, the
50-year old Italian competed in the Austria-Kärnten triathlon in
Klagenfurt and crossed the line after 9:08.38 hours. The competition
was held over the same distance as the race in Hawaii where
Zanardi’s best time so far is 9:40.37 hours. Nearly 3,000 athletes
took part in the Klagenfurt triathlon, and Zanardi was ranked
27th overall.
The event in Austria consisted of 3.8 kilometres of swimming in the
Wörthersee lake, 180 kilometres of cycling and 42.2 kilometres of
running. Zanardi completed the distance only with the power of his
arms: swimming, with his handcycle and his olympic wheelchair. The BMW
works driver used the competition to further prepare for his third
legendary Hawaii triathlon in October. This year, he is focusing more
on the triathlon discipline than before and has adapted his training
programme accordingly.
“It is a fantastic feeling to be at the finish with that great time,”
Zanardi said. “When you are going through it, you think ‘never again’.
And I thought that many times but afterwards, it is just awesome.
After the first part of the cycling portion, I suddenly had a big
black-out. I was really tired, adjusted my pace and somehow I managed
to come back and to not only finish but to finish very well.”
“I am extremely pleased with my speed in the cycling section.
Swimming was harder than it is in Kona as sea water is definitely
better,” he continued. “And then with regard to the running section in
my olympic wheelchair, I think I have made a great improvement with my
technique but today it was simply not possible to produce any speed
because of the traffic. When you have a marathon with a short course
and of two laps, the second laps it is just like being on New York’s
Times Square on New Year’s Eve. But in the end I completed the
competition in a very good time. For sure it would have been even
better to be one second under the nine-hour mark but today it was
technically not possible. In general, it was good preparation for
Hawaii. I think that I have become a better triathlete than I was two
years ago when I last competed there.”
The Hawaii triathlon will be held on 14th October in the
area of Kona on Big Island.