Olympic and Commonwealth Games medallist Henri Schoeman will continue his emotional comeback at Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift Switzerland.
The South African star, who won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and bronze at the 2016 Olympics, contemplated quitting as a string of serious illnesses and injuries forced him out of the sport for much of the last four years.
But the 31-year-old decided to fight on and made his return to the big time with second place at Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift Montreal. Now he will get the chance to star in front of a packed crowd at the intimate CAMPUS Sursee Sportarena, the home of Swiss Triathlon, on Sunday (19:00 local time).
Joining Schoeman on the start list is two-time Arena Games winner Justus Nieschlag, who has never finished off the podium in five outings at the unique hybrid real life and virtual format, as well as German long distance star Maurice Clavel.
Henri Schoeman said: “It just feels so amazing, I think it’s still sinking in a little bit. It’s been a long road for me to get back to this point and I was so happy to begin my year on a podium. I’m just looking forward to the rest of my season now.”
Zsanett Bragmayer, who won the Arena Games Triathlon Grand Final in Singapore last year, heads up a women’s field which also contains Germany’s Anabel Knoll and the youngest ever athlete in the format, 15-year-old Fanni Szalai from Hungary.
They will all be aiming to emulate Chase McQueen and Gina Sereno, the American couple who took the wins in the opening race of the Series in Montreal. With one event score plus the Grand Final in London (April 8) counting for the World Championship title, there is a lot on the line.
Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift is a trailblazing concept pioneered by Super League Triathlon. The real-life and virtual reality blended racing provides an immersive viewing experience for fans both watching at the venue and on broadcast. Athletes swim their 200m legs in pools, bike 4km on static trainers and run 1km on self-powered treadmills multiple times, with their efforts turned into racing gameplay by Zwift – all over a unique, short and action-packed format.
Athletes battle it out to be crowned the triathlon esports World Champion thanks to Super League’s partnership with World Triathlon.
