Barcelona. It was his big goal for this triathlon season:
Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) aimed to stay under the nine-hour mark in a
long distance triathlon and the BMW brand ambassador accomplished
his mission this Saturday. Zanardi completed the Barcelona triathlon
in Spain with a time of 8:58.59 hours. In doing so, he improved on
his personal best over the distance, achieved in Klagenfurt (AUT) in
July, by nine minutes. Ultimately, Zanardi was classified
45th overall in a field of nearly 3,000 competitors.
The Catalunya event started at Calella beach with 3.8 kilometres of
swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. The 180 kilometres of cycling were
contested on a very flat and fast course. The final part, the 42.2
kilometre running section, led competitors along the Mediterranean Sea
from Calella to Calella-Santa Susanna. Zanardi completed the distance
with only the power of his arms: swimming, with his handcycle and his
olympic wheelchair.
“I am over the moon. I think I have not realized yet that I stayed
under the nine-hour mark. I managed to achieve my target and that
makes me extremely happy,” Zanardi said. “I think for me, approaching
my 51st birthday, this is pretty amazing. Especially as
this competition was all but easy from a technical point of view.”
“The swim was difficult, as we started with the women, and after a
while I found myself on my own which caused me problems finding the
perfect line. I think instead of 3.8 kilometres I swam 4.5 kilometres
because I was going a longer way round,” he added with a twinkle in
his eye. “The bike section was simply exceptional. I completed it in
under five hours which is amazing. I think I went at an average speed
of over 38 km/h. That really gave me my final result because the
marathon was a real challenge for me. For me, running with wheels, it
was more than difficult. The course was very narrow and full of
athletes. Most of the surface was gravel, and even when it was paved
it was very rough and full of bumps. So taking all that into
consideration, it was a fantastic performance. I am incredibly proud
of this achievement.”
The Barcelona triathlon was Zanardi’s final major competition of the
year in para-sports. He looks back on another successful season,
including two more world titles in para-cycling won in South African Pietermaritzburg.