Belgian win in half triathlon Israël
Diego Van Looy gave Belgium the first big international triathlon victory of season 2018. The pro-athlete, since recently being trained by Luc Van Lierde, put the Israman 113 to his hand, a half distance triathlon on a not everyday parcours. Runner up was Diederik Scheltinga from the Netherlands.
Last year we were rather skeptical about Van Looys swimming skills, having made the step to triathlon at a riper age. In Eilat he showed us wrong and acknowledged that he has made tons of progression. He still lost 4 minutes to the leaders, but during the 90km bike leg on an undulating parcours he managed to turn the tables (as well as set the fastest bike split). In the run he was the fastest as well. With a half marathon in 1hr16'38 on a hille course he took the overall victory in 4hr41'46. The runner up Scheltinga was served more than five minutes, finishing in 4hr47'27. Third was home athlete Roee Zo-Arets, another three minutes later.
"Coaching by Luc Van Lierde has payed off"
We managed to get a hold of an overly satisfied Diego Van Looy. "The swim went really well. I manage to keep up the pace, have a decent sighting and don't have any issues on the exit anymore. The bike course was out of this world, 91km with a 2000m gain, containing a 12km stretch at around 10%. Luckily for me, my power to weight ratio helps me out a lot on these climbs. On the top of the hill, the dessert wind came in the side, scattering the pack and making drafting impossible, a dream scenario for a good biker as me. The plan Luc and I conceived worked, for which I'm very glad.
The run started with a steep downhill. I thought this would imply a tremendous split, but after only 4km, my legs were completely cut off. Running downhill is much harder than on the flat. Luckily I managed to keep on pushing and could conclude the race with both a smile and a victory. This pleases me after the dreadful 2017 season. This year I'm surrounded by a top crew and as an individual pro-athlete I've seen a lot of progression over the last months, which makes me hungry for more", says the Israman 113 champion.
German Schramm wins the full edition
Next to the 113, a 226 was also scheduled in Eilat. A full distance triathlon, where German Till Schramm dominated and took the win. His time of 9hr39'20 was 20 (!) minutes faster than runner up David Jilek from the Czech Republic. Third cam Hywel Davies from the UK. There were no Belgian participants in the full distance race.
Original article by Hans Cleemput on 3athlon.be on 27/01/2018
Translation by @T0v3