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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New: Aquabike Championships Medal Tables

We all know the medal tables from the Olympics or other big sports events. But now we also have medal tables for aquabike championship races. In our classical country medal table we show you, which countries won the most medals at World and European Championships. But we also have athlete´s medal tables to honor the most successful male and female aquabike athletes at World, European and National Championships.

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2021 Aquabike Review, Part V – impressive wins & thrilling races

In the last part of our 2021 Aquabike Season Review we take a look at the races with the smallest and biggest winning margins. Last year we saw some quite impressive performances with comfortable victories and also races with only a few seconds between first and second place. We show you the closest and clearest wins in aquabike races in 2021.

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2021 Aquabike Review, Part IV – The biggest races

Which aquabike races had the most finishers in 2021? The biggest one is not really surprise. With 147 finishers the Aquabike World Championships in Almere was the biggest aquabike race in 2021. But it might be a surprise that the European Championships in Walchsee didn´t even make it on the podium in this classification. Although the main reason for that are probably the travel restrictions for UK athletes, who were not allowed to come to Austria in June. But nevertheless it´s good to see that there are also some other races with a significant number of aquabike athletes on the startline.

So let´s take a closer look…

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