South Africa’s Henri Schoeman and Australia’s Sophie Linn were crowned 2023 Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift World Champions after a thrilling evening’s action in the London Aquatics Centre.
Schoeman’s second place behind a breakthrough performance from 23-year-old Italian Nicolo Strada was just enough to seal the overall title in the men’s race, while Linn took the final podium spot behind pre-race favourites Beth Potter and Cassandre Beaugrand to land the women’s crown.
Each race in the unique hybrid format of real life and esports was contested over three stages of a 200m swim, 4km bike and 1km run, with the first two stages the traditional format of swim, bike, run and the second stage flipped to start with the run and end on the swim.
An elated Schoeman, an Olympic bronze medallist and Commonwealth Games champion who has spent much of the past three years struggling with injury and illness, had given himself a great chance by winning the Sursee round of the series. He said: “There are no words to describe it. I just wanted to come back into racing and sharpen up my body, but I fell in love with this style of racing and I’m so fortunate to compete in front of such an amazing crowd here in London.”
The climax to the 2023 Arena Games Triathlon World Championship Series saw a frenetic two days of action with a raft of notable performances including a drama-filled fifth-place in London for Norwegian Ironman world champion Gustav Iden and an impressive sixth place in the overall series for Hungary’s 15-year-old prodigy Fanni Szalai.
Men’s race
Arena Games Montreal winner Chase McQueen started strongly by being first out of the water but it was Strada who showed his form by taking out Stage 1 ahead of New Zealand’s Kyle Smith with Schoeman handily placed in third.
The second stage started with the run and ended on the swim, which gave Iden the chance to push to the front on the 4km bike leg before Schoeman and Strada again took over in the water to finish almost together.
As Stage 3 developed, Strada – who finished fourth in Switzerland – needed another athlete to come between himself and Schoeman to claim the world title. It wasn’t to be, as Smith finished third ahead of Switzerland’s Simon Westermann who clinched the final spot on the overall podium.
Iden’s weekend was not short of drama either, as the two-time Ironman 70.3 winner served a 5sec penalty in the heats for missing the race briefing, then fought his way through the afternoon’s repechage, before picking up another penalty for a transition transgression in the final.
