When Wian Sullwald (Tuks/HPC) competes in the ITU Chengdu World Cup on Saturday in China he will be hoping for a repeat of his performance last month at the African championships.

A victory this weekend will certainly boost Sullwald’s chances of becoming the third South African triathlete to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio. He is currently ranked 63^rd on the ITU Olympic ranking list.

Sullwald is quietly confident of getting a good result, especially after winning the African and South African under-23 title in East London last month. He surprised many because, in spite of not being able to run for nearly eight weeks due to a knee-injury, he was still the second fastest in the 10km run. Only Henri Schoeman was faster.

“I won’t lie.  My knee is still not 100% and Lindsey Parry, my coach, and I decided to focus on quality rather than quantity training. I think I will be able to run a time faster than 32 minutes, especially if we race at high cadence on the bike.

According to Sullwald the Chengdu course makes for fast and furious racing.

“It will be wrong for me not to thank Devlin Eyden, a sport scientist at the HPC, because the way he fast tracked my recovery through his rehabilitation program has done wonders.”

Azerbaijani Rostyslav Pevtsov (AZE) is one the athletes Sullwald should watch on Saturday. He is a very strong runner and won a bronze medal at the 2015 European Games.  He also finished second in Chengdu last year.

Argentina’s Gonzalo Raul Tellechea and Luciano Taccone, as well as Thomas Springer (Austria) and Don Darmon (Israel), will be in contention for a podium finish.

Sullwald also plans to compete at the ITU World Series Event in Cape Town on 24 April.