Week 21 Race Reports

Seven years after the last edition of Swim & Bike Werbellinsee (see Aquabike History) we finally had the first and long awaited aquabike races in Germany at the Vierlanden Triathlon near Hamburg. Unfortunately the weather was not particularly inviting. With 15,7°C in the water and 11°C and also quite some rain outside many registered athletes decided not to appear at the startline. However, there were still 19 cold-resistant aquabike athletes competing in the middle distance race.

And what a race it was!

Dennis MÖLLER came out of the water first, with Jonas HAFEMANN about a minute behind. But with the fastest transition time, Jonas came out of T1 five seconds ahead of Dennis. Apparently the two of them stayed together over the bike course, with Dennis Möller coming into T2 11 seconds ahead of Jonas Hafemann. But they weren´t leading the aquabike race at that point. Because Frank ERK, who started be bike leg about six minutes behind stormed to the front, getting into T2 five seconds ahead of Dennis Möller. But neither of them managed to take the race win.

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Week 20 Race Reports

We had a pretty busy weekend of aquabike racing in England with no less than 13 aquabike races on the British Island. But first of all let´s have a look over at mainland Europe where the 100% Half Empuriabrava in the Northeast of Spain included a middle distance aquabike race for the second year.

Fabian BADIA VICENT was able to repeat his 2021 win at this event, though it was much closer this time. In a time of 02:50:36 He was five minutes faster than last time, to beat Marc SANGRÀ LLUCH by only 59 seconds, with Alex PAGAN MONTORO only 26 more seconds behind. The women´s race was won by Audrey SYREN, with Paqui MIRANDA MEDINA taking second place about four minutes behind and Duna SALLENT SALLÓ coming in third.

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Week 18 & 19 Race Reports

First of all let´s have a look over at Spain where we had the long distance national championships, followed by the middle distance championships only six days later. With most athletes focusing on the middle distance race in Papmplona, there was a relatively small field of 20 aquabikers at the long distance race at the Tradeinn International Triathlon 140.6INN in Platja d´Aro. Fastest man of the day was Albert GRATACÓS GRAU, taking the win about 4 minutes ahead of Javier CERDEIRA MELERO and 9 minutes ahead of Roberto MILLARES GOMEZ. Only three women were entering the race, which was won by Ainara BENAVENTE BABACE – who by the way is also one of the only three athletes to race both, the long and middle distance championships.

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Road to Bilbao

How to qualify for the Europen Aquabike Championships 2022

In my last article I wrote about the general requirements to take part in an international aquabike championship race. But there is a bit more to consider for every race. The registration always has to go through your national triathlon federation. This process is quite different in every country. In some you have to qualify or match other criteria. I checked the qualification criteria in the Top 15 European countries of our Country Ranking. So if you´re planning to be on the startline at the European Aquabike Championships in Bilbao in September, here is what it takes.

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How to qualify for World or European Aquabike Championships

In 2017 we had the first ever Long Distance Aquabike World Championships in Pentiction, Canada. The following year the European Championships had their premiere in Ibiza. And this year will be the first time we´ll also have a World Championship over the Standard Distance in November in Abu Dhabi. Before that we´ll have the Long Distance World´s in Šamorín, Slovakia (which is actually more like a middle distance race) in August and the Middle Distance European´s in Bilbao, Spain in September.

But what does it take to take part in one of those races? If you consider racing in a European or World Championship event, we´ll let you know, what you have to consider.

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ITU finally announced new location of the 2022 Aquabike World Championships

This year´s Aquabike Long Distance World Championships will be held on the 21st of August at the amazing x-bionic® sphere in Šamorín, Slovakia. The Multisport World Championships (which also includes the Aquathlon World´s) will be held in conjunction with the Collins Cup, which takes place the day before.

Amongst Triathletes the race venue is probably best known for hosting “The Championship” – the flagship race of the Challenge Family since 2017. It´s a modern multi sports resorts with all kinds of venues for horse riding, swimming, athletics, team sports and many more. I was fortunate enough to race there at the very first Challenge Family event at this location in 2016 – and I have to say it´s an absolutely exciting race location!

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The History of Aquabike Racing

When you try to find out about the history of aquabike races and when and where it all started, you usually get to hear (or to read), that the first races happened to be in the year 2005 in the United States. But that´s actually not the whole story. The first races happened a few years earlier in a place that you probably wouldn´t guess.

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New Aquabike Rules for 2022

In December the International Triathlon Union (ITU) released their new version of the competition rules for the 2022 racing season. There are quite a few changes about aquabike racing. Some make sense, some are clarifying things that might were confusing in previous versions, but some impose restrictions that seem quite unnecessary – and for some races actually unfeasible. So it might be worth taking a closer look…

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The five hardest Aquabike Races 2022

Just because an aquabike race finishes after the bike leg and the run part of the triathlon is missing, certainly doesn´t mean that an aquabike race is easy. A race is always as hard as you make it. But there are some races out there that are never easy. We take a closer look at the hardest aqabike races in Europe in 2022. They´re not only the hardest but also some of the most beautiful races – although probably not everybody is able to enjoy the stunning scenery when the water is freezing cold and gradients on the bike leg hit 20%. But if you don´t like warm water and flat roads, these races might be perfect for you!

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2022 Aquabike Championships Calendar

More and more countries host national aquabike championships, some even over several distances. We have European Championships and of course World Championships for long and standard distance. On this page you find all dates for international and national aqauabike championships in 2022.

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