Triathlon: Marten Van Riel crowned world champion

Following his victories in San Francisco and Ibiza, as well as a second place in Las Marten, Van Riel "just" had to secure a podium finish in the final race in Dubai to be crowned world champion of this new T100 event, created by the association of the PTO (Professional Triathletes Organisation) and World Triathlon.

The best short- and long-distance triathletes gathered in the United Arab Emirates, including Jan Frodeno, Olympic champion and three-time winner of Ironman Hawaii, and Sam Laidlow, crowned 2023 Ironman World Champion in Nice.

But despite the pressure on his broad shoulders, the 31-year-old from Antwerp dominated the event from start to finish. Marten Van Riel very coherently declared after his splendid victory: "If I gave the impression of being in control of the race, believe me, that wasn't the case. I tried to manage my efforts, but I had to work hard to drop Kyle Smith, first, who was my last title rival, and then Rico Bogen, who surprised me. That said, it's true that the hardest thing for me was wearing the number 1 bib. When you're not used to it, it creates enormous pressure, which I've tried to shrug off as much as possible over the last few days. But it was definitely there."

Congratulations to this Belgian triathlete on his world championship title!