Solid start into the new year for Swen (23.01.2011)

After Swen prepared himself for the new season in recent weeks, along with teammate Faris Al-Sultan in the United Arab Emirates, he wanted to test his current form in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

One week ago he traveled from Abu Dhabi to the South Africa. Swen had arrived in South Africa a few days before the race to recover from the training and travel stress. A special experience was a safari on which he was approaching some wild animals.

To the race: The athletes had to fight while swimming with extremely difficult conditions. There was strong wind and waves with over two meters hight. After a somewhat chaotic start-up phase Swen missed the connection to the top athletes and found himself in the chasing group. He had to fight on the full 1.9 km keep orientation, because the waves didn't allow a good overview. Thus, Sundberg finished the swim-part as 16th.

Right at the front were at this time Frederik van Lierde and James Cunnama already a bit detached from the rest of the field.

In the first half of the 90-km bike course Swen showed a strong performance and he could make some good positions and time forward. He felt very well and hoped to push forward even in the Top 5. Especially on the way to turning point, all athletes had to contend with fierce head wind, but after the turning point the athletes were literally flying into the transition area. Swen reported on sections where he could easily go over 60 km / h. In this fast way back he had to pay a little tribute to the efforts of the training camp, but Sundberg managed to hold the gap to the first group constant. With 2:27:04, he drove one of the fastest times of the day and moved as 7th in his running shoes.

Of the final 21.1 kilometers, Sundberg expected not very much, as he has mostly worked on the basis and therefore the running-speed missed out a little bit. Swen never suffered, but could never really run fast. Nevertheless, he succeeded to defend his 7th place.

This race was just the first positioning in the new year. Now it is time for Swen to recover a little first before he starts to prepare for Abu Dhabi International Triathlon in March.