Svenja Thoes gets underway

Second place for Svenja Thoes at last week’s Apfelland Triathlon in Austria

The Saarland triathlete’s winter preparations were not entirely ideal, with her training and competition plans being continually disrupted. After illness and injury-related absences and setbacks in recent months, the start of her competition season had to be delayed several times.

In early May, it was finally time: Svenja Thoes immediately finished in fifth place at the 2023 long-distance world championships in Ibiza, the fastest German. This is a first positive sign that the hard work and many hours of training will be reflected in good results – especially since after the finish, she gave the self-critical assessment that her competition tactics and strategy still had room for improvement.

Last Saturday at Stubenbergsee in Austria, she had her next opportunity to gain competition practice. At the third ‘Omni Biotic Apfelland-Triathlon’, a middle-distance triathlon in an idyllic and very familiar setting, the defending champion from Saarland finished in second place.

After a 1.9-kilometre swim, 90-kilometre cycle and finally a half marathon of 21.1 kilometres in Stubenbergsee, Danish athlete Maja Stage-Nielsen was the only participant to cross the finish line ahead of Svenja. This is a result with which the top triathlete can be extremely satisfied, given the setbacks she experienced with her training.

A step in the right direction. We are looking forward to the next competitions with Svenja Thoes.

You will soon be able to see the Saarland triathlete in a rather different role, here on our website. We don’t want to give too much away yet – but it will be a treat.