Another attempt of Christof Wandratsch to set a new record (06.07.2010)

2006 Christof Wandratsch set a new swim record at Ironman Austria in 41:26 min over the 3,8 km. Last weekend he tried to improve that time.

Christof is better known in the long distance swimming scene as in triathlon. After multiple world record times over long distances as the English Channel he set in the last years he went for a new record over the 3,8 km swimming at Ironman Austria. He prepared for more than half a year where he not only worked on his swim shape but he also did many kilometres on the bike and in running shoes. Christof did his last workout at the Wörthersee where Ironman Austria is held. He took also the paddlers with him who were the designated leaders of the swim field on race day. He wanted to work on the coordination for the competition.

Race day brought best conditions, perfect weather, no wind and no waves. From the beginning on Christof was on world record time. He passed the 1 km mark after 15:30 min. But on the following 1,5 km he lost more than 2 min of his planned schedule. The last part went perfectly again but in the end the lost time made a record impossible. After his first glance onto the watch he was disappointed and he was not really motivated to continue the race. But he forced himself to do so and the following bike section went well. On the run he bonked after 30 km and so he lost some minutes. Not really satisfied he crossed the finish line after a little more than 10 hours.

“I have no explanation why I have lost so much time at the middle section of the swim course. I was sure that I could have set a new record under these conditions. But I will try again to swim a faster time at an Ironman”, Christof summed up the race on the finish line.