Two triathlons within a few days, and then against top athletes.
Simon Henseleit has recently shown strong performances.
He was troubled by a technical detail.
Triathlete Simon Henseleit was invited to the "Pushing Limits Race".
The 20-year-old completed an Olympic distance with top athletes for the first time.
Simon Henseleit couldn't be as fast as he wanted on the bike.
Steingaden - two competitions within eight days - and then special competitions on top of that: triathlete Simon Henseleit was particularly challenged recently.
The 20-year-old from Steingaden did a very good job.
He kept up with the best in both the Pushing Limits Race and the Bundesliga.
Pushing Limits Race:
Simon Henseleit needed some time to classify the result of the invitation race in Ratingen.
According to the sports soldier, he entered the short-distance competition "with relatively high expectations".
“I would have liked to have ended up in the top five.” In fifth place, Henseleit would also have received 500 euros in prize money.
Ultimately it was due to "a few small things" that nothing came of it.
One day behind, the man from Steingaden was satisfied with his performance and tenth place (1:42:23 hours).
After all, the field of participants was peppered with top triathletes.
Among the 24 men, these included the reigning 70.3 world champion Gustav Iden, the Ironman winner Nils Frommhold, the former 70.3 world champion Michael Raelert and Boris Stein (seventh in the 2016 World Championships in Hawaii).
Simon Henseleit: Difficulties with the time trial machine
For Henseleit, the race was special for one reason: For the first time, he completed an Olympic distance (in this case 1000 meters swimming, 40 kilometers cycling and 10 kilometers running).
For this, he sat down on a pure time trial bike for the first time.
That was exactly what gave him trouble.
Henseleit had borrowed the vehicle, with a rather smaller chainring mounted on it.
“I ran out of gears downhill,” reports the youngster.
So he could not step on the downhill passages, but "only" let it roll.
In order to get a little more pace out, "I got down on the top tube," says Henseleit.
He lost about a minute and a half on the leaders.
Henseleit completed the 40 kilometers at an altitude of 600 meters in 56:50 minutes, which corresponds to an average of 42.2 km / h.
Unlike what he was used to, slipstream driving was prohibited.
A distance of 20 meters was required, "but it was not checked well by the judges," he observed.
When running, “I had good legs because I couldn't invest that much in cycling”.
However, he had trouble breathing that day, so he couldn't be as fast as his legs would have allowed.
Looking back, Henseleit was satisfied with the time of 33:34 minutes on the winding course.
Simon Henseleit: third fastest in the swimming pool
He was one of the best in the first discipline, swimming.
It was played in a 50-meter pool, with three athletes sharing a lane.
In the water, "everything was great," said the man from Steingaden.
He was in the lead pretty quickly in his group.
“I swam my own thing.” With a time of 11:59 minutes, Henseleit achieved the third fastest time, only his training partner Magnus Männer (11:39 / 14th place at the end) and Jonas Osterholt (11: 58/9th place ) were faster.
Even the superior overall winner Gustav Iden (1:37:49 hours) was slower in the water than the Steingadener - if only a second.
1st Bundesliga:
Before appearing in Ratingen, Henseleit was in action at the only competition in the 1st Bundesliga.
With the “hep Team Neckarsulm”, the sports soldier took third place among 15 teams.
He describes the result as "cool" because it was the best result for the club in the top division so far.
Henseleit completed the 650 meters swimming, 13.9 kilometers cycling and 4.2 kilometers running in 47:16 minutes.
Only two athletes were better in his run: Tim Hellwig (45:28) from “Hylo Team Saar” and Justus Nieschlag (45:48) from “Ejot Team TV Buschhütten”.
Before that, both had impressed at the short-distance World Cup in Hamburg;
Hellwig was the second best German in seventeenth.
Simon Henseleit: With the "hep Team NSU" in third place
Each team consisted of five athletes.
They started individually in heats against one athlete from each of the other teams.
The respective placement was converted into points.
Points were awarded for each place (1st place = 1 point, 2nd place = two points, 3rd place = three points, etc.).
The team with the lowest total number of points won, a strike result was possible.
The "hep Team NSU" got 14 points.
As third, Henseleit received three points.
The "Ejot Team TV Buschhütten" (4 points) won ahead of the "Hylo Team Saar" (12).
Simon Henseleit achieved the fifth best swimming time in his heat (7:44).
When I got on my bike, “I just barely made the connection”.
Alone on the bike (slipstream driving was allowed) he couldn't catch up with Hellwig and Nieschlag, who took turns in the lead.
Nevertheless, he overtook two athletes who had been lying in front of him after swimming.
With 24:30 minutes he drove the fourth best time.
He started running quickly and then, when third place was determined, he finished the second lap in a controlled manner.
Simon Henseleit: Strong result in the Bundesliga in Saarbrücken
Outlook:
Participating in the Olympic distance in Ratingen "was definitely a good experience," says Henseleit.
For his future appearances in the World and European Cup "I can do a lot".
Two competitions within eight days, and an Olympic distance as the final - "That was a bit special," says Henseleit.
Especially before the second competition “you have to be careful during training and also take it easy,” he says with a smile.
The 20-year-old, whose sister Franca is also a successful triathlete, has decided not to contest any more competition this year and to "go into the season break", as he says.
He not only uses it for regeneration, but also to move within Nuremberg, his current place of residence.
In addition, a Bundeswehr course is on the program, which he can now also complete during the break.
