An extended spell on the sidelines and then a crushing disappointment at the Olympics this summer would have tripped up many an elite triathlete. But not Marten Van Riel.
Instead he saw an opportunity at the T100 Triathlon World Tour and on Sunday he became the first-ever men’s World Champion in that sphere.
He’d already shown he could be a force to be reckoned with at middle distance before his T100 exploits with wins in all of his first four 70.3 races.
But the T100 has been next level and he triumphed in San Francisco before the Olympics, followed that at Ibiza less than a month after Paris and then rounded it off in the grand manner in Dubai to net not just the win on the day but also the overall crown and an end-of-season $210,000 bonus.
All about looking ahead
Speaking about the importance of the T100 to him this year, the 31-year-old Belgian explained: “I think it was very good to have this goal of doing well in the T100 series this year.
“And to be able to do that has been kind of what has kept me on and not made me doubt too much what happened at the Olympic Games, because I knew my shape was way, way, way, way better than what I showed there.
“Unfortunately, you have one day to show it – but it was really good to not have the time to think about it too much and go straight into the T100 series and it’s definitely made for a great season.
It’s all the difficult movements that make the beautiful ones even more beautiful.
“This makes it all worth it. 2022 and 2023 were really hard seasons for me. I think I had nine months off running – and running is still my insecurity of not being fast enough.”
‘Finally playing with my best cards’
In a short space of time Van Riel now finds himself ranked as the world number one at middle and long distance – and despite what he said about running, he’s that rare athlete who is in the top 10 for all three disciplines, underlining his all-round talents.
And talking about the move up from short course, he added: “I think that long distance just suits me better because it doesn’t come down to 100 percent the run as short distance [tends] to do these days.
“It’s more that the three disciplines are important. So I think that I’m finally playing with my best cards.”
And his exploits look sure to encourage many other short course stars to test the step up in the next season or two, especially as his pay cheque from his four T100 races is over $300,000, as well as a potentially hefty up-front contract payment for 2025.
