While the triathlon and aquabike racing season is long over in Europe, some athletes still have a season highlight coming up next weekend. The World Triathlon Championship Finals will host the first ever Aquabike World Championship over standard distance, taking place on Saturday, November 26th in Abu Dhabi.
The Swim
One thing is for sure: there´s no need to bring your wetsuit. It will definitely be a non wetsuit swim in the warm waters of the Al Raha Creek. In the FAQ sections of the event´s website you can find the following statement:
We will monitor the temperature of the water on the day of the race, and if the temperature exceeds 31.9 degrees, we will make adjustments to the course. The swim and run course may be shorten or be cancelled, and adjustments made accordingly.
However, the water temperature in the region is currently around 28°C, with a slightly decreasing tendency. With air temperature forecasted at 29°C it looks like perfect conditions for a bit of swimming and cycling.
The in-water swim start for aquabike athletes will be in three waves, with men under 55 starting at 10:00, all women at 10:05 and men of all age groups 55+ at 10:10. While the first wave of the triathlon race starts at 08:45 already, the last wave will start at 09:51 – 9 minutes prior to the aquabike start. So there could be a bit of traffic for the fast swimmers, especially in the second half of the swim.
The swim exit will be over a pontoon. This might bring up some bad memories this year´s European Championships where some athletes had a serious fight to get up on the pontoon. But there will be a “swim exit ramp attached to the pontoon”. So the exit should be much smoother than in Bilbao. And the swim exit might make some nice pictures. It´s nowhere mentioned, but according to the route maps, the swim exit is quite close to The Emerging Man.
The Transition
After we had quite a long run to the finishline at the World Championships in Samorin, and also through transition at the European Championships in Bilbao (both around 800 metres) this year there are once again bad news for aquabike athletes who have serious issues with running due to injury. It´s about 500 metres on tarmac from the swim exit to the entry of the transition zone.
The Bike Course
This is certainly not a race for the climbers. The bike course is pan flat with long straights but also three U-turns and some more sharp corners on the 20 km lap that has to be tackled twice. So there are some technical sections, but most part of the bike course is on wide roads. So hopefully traffic should not be an issue on most parts of the course. While the roads are of course closed for car traffic there will be quite some athletes on the course at the same time. Not only the athletes from the triathlon and aquabike world championships, but there will also be an open race over standard and sprint distance, with the first wave starting 5 minutes after the last aquabike start wave. So let´s hope the roads are wide enough for all athletes on the course.
The Finish
OK, here we have some good news for the bad runners. There won´t be a long run to the finishline. The triathlon finish is about 1300 metres away from T2, but there will be an aquabike specific finishline shortly after the exit from T2. And it also seems like the organizers put a few more thoughts into finishing aquabike athletes than in other major events. There will not only be a photograph to take finisher pictures, but there´s also a medical center and a recovery center as well as toilets and changing rooms at the aquabike finisher´s area.
So everything seems well prepared for a perfect finishline experience!
The Favourites
Due to the exotic location and the time long after most athlete´s racing season there are some big names missing on the startlist. But there are still some quite interesting athletes starting in Abu Dhabi. I´m pretty sure we´ll see an exciting race.
The Men´s Race
It´s hard to name a big favourite here. The Top Finishers of this year´s World and European Championships will be absent. But there´s a chance the first ever Aquabike World Champion will also be the first ever Standard Distance World Champion. Stephen Sheldrake from New Zealand won the first World´s in 2017 in Penticton, Canada. The now 49 year old Kiwi proved still to be in good shape earlier this year when he won the Tauranga Half, New Zealands biggest aquabike race with 113 aquabike finishers. It was a close fight for the win though in this race. Mike Crowe came in second, only seven seconds behind. But he might take revenge in Abu Dhabi, where he will also be on the start line.
The date in late November might be an advantage for athletes from the southern hemisphere. Another one to mention is Vinicius Noetzold, Brazil´s national aquabike champion in 2021. Runner up of this race was Thiago De Souza Caldas who was also second in this year´s national championships and will also be competing in Abu Dhabi.
Only reigning national aquabike champion in the aquabike race in Abu Dhabi will be Rafał Korulczyk. He took a clear win in Poland´s long distance aquabike nationals this September with an impressive performance on the bike. He probably won´t be amongst the first athletes out of the water, but is certainly an athlete to watch on the bike course.
Best ranked athlete in the Aquabike Ranking Europe competing in Abu Dhabi is Victor Sánchez García from Spain, currently sitting in 5th position. After his 14th place at this year´s World´s in Samorin, he showed a strong performance in the European Championships in Bilbao, where he won his age group to finish 5th overall.
There will of course be a big delegation of British aquabike athletes in Abu Dhabi. Best ranked is Colin Nadin, who showed some strong performances this season. Most noteworthy a close second place in the middle distance race at Hever Castle in July and of course his win in the Cowman Aquabike in the same month. Also worth mentioning are Nicholas Barrat and Tristan Matthews who both showed strong performances in Standard Distance Races this season.
And last but not least there´s also a strong US athlete who should be mentioned. Jared Gentile took two very clear wins in local standard distance races in his home country. Will be interesting how he performs on the big stage.
The Women´s Race
In the Women´s Race the situation is quite different, because we have a clear favourite here. Former World Champion and current European Champion and #1 in the Women´s Aquabike Ranking Europe Amy Pritchard will be the woman to beat in this race. After impressive performances at this year´s Europeans as well as at the Bournemouth International Triathlon Amy will be hard to pass in Abu Dhabi if she was able to keep her shape during the British after season.
But she´s not the only strong Amy in the race. Another former #1 of the Women´s Aquabike Ranking Europe will also be competing in Abu Dhabi. Amy Sole took three wins in local standard distance races this season and is certainly a candidate for the top ranks.
And there´s another strong GB athlete. Delyth Williams is currently #3 in the ranking after winning the standard distance race at Hever Castle and also showing strong performances at the Bournemouth International Triathlon and at the ICAN Gandia in Spain.
Two more British girls are worth mentioning. Charlotte Owen and Felicity Lawless each won one local race this year. Both with only a small number of athletes, so it´s hard to estimate how this translates to the big stage of a world championship race.
Another woman certainly to watch will be Dominika Josefova from Czechia. At this year´s Europeans in Bilbo she came out of the water only 24 seconds after Amy Pritchard. She ended up in 7th place, loosing some time on the bike. But on a flat 40 km bike course it might be easier to keep up with stronger cyclists than on 80 km through the hills of the Basque Country.
There are also quite some athletes from the US on the startlist of the aquabike race. Most notable is Kris Ullman, 3rd in the US National Championships over the Standard Distance last year.
So this was our race preview for the first ever Standard Distance Aqubike World Championships. I hope you enjoyed reading and I hope we will see an exciting race. For those of you who are at the startline in Bilbao, good luck and all the best for the race!
Some maybe helpful links:
World Aquabike Championships Abu Dhabi race details on aquabike.world