A tragic incident occurred at the Austrian National Aquabike Championships at the Trumer Triathlon last Sunday. Swiss athlete Alexander Schawalder passed away after presumably suffering from a cardiac arrest during the swim. The lifeboat was quickly on the scene, but the resuscitation attempts initiated directly on the boat were unsuccessful.
It was the second time since 2019 that the city in western Spain hosted the Triathlon World Multisport Championships, which include the Long-Distance Aquabike World Championships. The field was noticeably smaller than six years ago – I discussed the reasons in my race preview – but we still enjoyed an eventful race day. Although several aspects could be refined for future editions, let’s start with the good news: no finish-line drama this time. In my preview I had questioned the new finish location, yet in reality the right-hand bend after the line was little more than a gentle curve, easily taken at full speed.
After years of growth the Long Distance Aquabike World Championships will see a significant drop in the number of participants in 2025 – despite the number of aquabike athletes still being growing year by year all around the world. In this race preview we will not only – as always – take a closer look at the race course and the race favourites but also analyse why so much less aquabike athletes will be competing in Pontevedra next weekend.
Last weekend Spain’s half-distance classic from Lerate’s Alloz Reservoir into the heart of Pamplona hosted the European Aquabike Championships. A 1.9 km swim in crystal-clear lake water was followed by a challenging 85 km point-to-point bike course.
Since September 2023 we did not have a change of the leaders, neither in the Men’s, nor in the Women’s Aquabike.World ranking. Frank Erk and Monika Lukens also both took the lead in the all time ranking during this period, which is the ranking including all results since January 1st 2021.
For as much as 588 days Monika Lukens was leading the Women’s Ranking. Since taking the lead on September 27th, 2023, she competed in no less than 20 aquabike races, taking quite a few wins and a silver and a bronze medal in the US aquabike nationals in the process.
The sevenths edition of the European Aquabike Championships will take place in Pamplona this Saturday. Well, actually the race will start about 40 km outside the Capital of the Navarra region in northern Spain. For the first time we will have a point-to-point race in an international aquabike championship. 281 athletes have signed up for the aquabike race – if all of them will be competing, this will be the biggest European Aquabike Championship yet. A title currently held by Pamplona’s neighbour city Bilbao, where 268 athletes started the race in 2022.
I usually don’t write race previews for national championships, but this time I’ll make an exception, since it’s the race many of you have been waiting years to see – and because our friends from Age Group News aksed for it ;). So here’s a look at the inaugural British National Aquabike Championships, coming up this Sunday hosted by the Burghley Multisport Weekend.
Although the weekend also features a 100 km middle‑distance event with an aquabike option (2 km swim, 80 km bike), the championship title will be decided over the standard distance: a 1.5 km swim followed by a 40 km ride.
A first glance at the start list left me a little surprised. With 112 athletes entered, the debut championships won’t be the largest aquabike race ever held in the UK; in fact, it doesn’t even make the podium in that category. The top three spots still belong to the trio of standard‑distance World Championship 2024 qualifiers in Torremolinos – a race that, unfortunately, shares one unwelcome trait with these first British Championships. But before we get to that, let’s take a closer look at the course.
Whether you’re a seasoned racer or gearing up for your first swim-bike event, this new feature is designed to help you relive and analyse your race like never before. I’m absolutely thrilled to share how these personal race reports will give you deeper insight into your performance – in a fun, interactive way. So, what’s it all about? Let’s dive in!
Elite Energy, the organizer of the 2025 World Triathlon Championship Finals, which also hosts the Standard Distance Aquabike World Championship, has released some intriguing details about the racecourse and event schedule.
If you’ve read my race report about the Aquabike Standard Distance World Championship last October, you might remember that several issues arose during and after the race – some of which remain unresolved. While certain matters are still pending and may have lasting repercussions (at least, I hope so), there have been some recent developments that I’d like to share.