Sullwald will need to ‘outfox’ rivals at African Championship
Although Wian Sullwald has been plagued by injuries in recent months, he is still a serious candidate to win the African and South African triathlon titles this weekend.
If Wian Sullwald wants to have a realistic chance of winning the African and South African triathlon titles in East London on Sunday, he will have to race tactically clever.
There can be no arguing that when Sullwald (Tuks/HPC) is at his best that he will always be a contender. He proved this by finishing 6th overall at the World Series race in Edmonton last year. He also won the ITU World Cup event in Chengdu, China in 2014 as well as the junior world title in 2012.
Unfortunately for Sullwald he has been plagued by injury setbacks over the last 15 months. It was as if he was playing a game of ‘snakes and ladders’. Just when he thought he was going upwards, some unforeseen setback would appear and he would be sliding down into a pit of despair again.
His latest setback was a knee injury which prevented him from running the past eight weeks. Until Monday Sullwald was not sure whether he would be allowed to compete in East London. To his relief the doctor gave him the ‘green light’ to compete, together with a warning that he should not try to run the 10 kilometres flat-out.
In spite of this slight handicap, Sullwald is quietly confident that he will be able to get a good result.
“There are no words to describe my frustration after I was forced to withdraw from the World Series race in Abu Dhabi. I am truly glad that I will at least be able to compete again. I know it will be a tough challenge on Sunday, but I have already planned my race tactics,” said the Tuks/HPC athlete.
Sullwald was not prepared to elaborate on his race tactics, but he will most likely try to open up a lead during the 1.5km swim and the 40km cycle to enable him to start the 10km on his own terms.
“I am in a very good place at the moment as far as my swimming and cycling are concerned,” said Sullwald.
Sunday’s race will in all probability boil to a “royal battle” between Sullwald, Henri Schoeman (African Champion) and Basson Engelbrecht (SA Champion).
If he stays injury free Sullwald will be quite busy during the next few weeks. He plans to compete in the New Plymouth World Cup in New Zealand on 3 April, followed by the Gold Coast World Series event on 10 April and the Cape Town World Series event on 23 April.
