Niklas Ludwig has taken two more important steps towards a professional career: He achieved strong placings in the Allgäu and Mondsee triathlons.
Kirchdorf / Fuschl am See
- Niklas Ludwig (19), who now lives in Fuschl, Austria because of the better training opportunities, is in absolute competition mode. And with great success. The promising young triathlete recently demonstrated his extraordinary talent at the 3MUC Triathlon in Oberschleißheim. Now Ludwig has stepped up and achieved top personal results within two weeks both at the Allgäu Triathlon in Immenstadt and on Sunday at the Mondsee Triathlon in Austria.
In Immenstadt, Ludwig finished 14th out of 2500 participants.
In the meantime he was even in seventh place, but then fell back “because of energy problems”.
It worked even better on Sunday: The ambitious triathlete even stood on the podium in the sprint distance with 750 meters of swimming, 23 kilometers of cycling and five kilometers of running.
After a breakdown with the bicycle gearshift, he managed a remarkable catch-up while running, which eventually pushed him up to third place.
Mind you, behind top people like front runner Oliver Janny and runner-up Raphael Petrovic.
Balm for the runner's soul
"When I ran, I completely outgrew myself," said Niklas Ludwig afterwards, overjoyed. Rightly so, after all, he had shown great stamina. After all, not everything went according to plan when it came to swimming: Ludwig wanted to go along with the favorites, which he couldn't. The first transition zone, filled with slow athletes from a different distance, was also deceptive - he thought he was only in tenth to 15th place. When cycling, he was only able to make up a few placings due to gearshift problems.
But in the second transition area, which he had first passed due to bad markings, he finally realized that he was actually in third place. Already after the swim it was actually fifth. “The mistakes could have been avoided. On the one hand, that annoys me, on the other hand, I also know that I can turn it off until the next time, ”he comments on the incidents.
In the past, Ludwig had often lost a number of positions while running. But when he suddenly ran into the fast short-distance specialist Petrovic, he knew that it was different this time. “I'm very satisfied, that was good for my self-confidence. It wasn't enough for second place anymore, but that's basically all the same to me. I have demonstrated my ability to myself, among other things with a new personal best over five 5 kilometers ”, stated the 19-year-old, who is aiming for a professional career, with a little distance.
The same certainly applies to the performance that Ludwig in Allgäu showed at the 38th edition of the cult triathlon in Immenstadt. After all, none other than the Ironman Hawaii winners Jan Frodeno, Normann Stadler and Thomas Hellriegel left their mark on the competition. “I really enjoyed the race. It was perfectly organized and many thousands of visitors followed it on the sidelines. Of course, that was somewhat contained under the Corona guidelines. The people stood at a distance and spread out - but the backdrop was still impressive, ”says Ludwig.
The competition conditions at the Allgäu Triathlon are tough.
For example, riding a bicycle in the slipstream is prohibited.
However, it wasn't the rules that bothered Ludwig.
Instead, he got "massive problems" with his fluid balance.
Or maybe he was short of carbohydrates.
A detailed analysis of why he fell behind towards the end of the competition is still pending.
The fact is that “the battery was empty,” admits Ludwig.
Annual highlight and location determination
Next he is looking forward to his highlight of the year over the 70.3 distance with 1.9 kilometers swimming, 90 kilometers cycling and 21.1 kilometers running.
At Ironman 70.3 Nice, the venue for the World Cup in 2019, on September 12th, he would like to compare his current performance with the time of the amateur world champion.
“Almost a year before I try to win this title myself in St. George, USA, that's a good assessment of where I am, and I can work towards it in more detail with my coach,” predicts the 19-year-old.
You can also read the report by Niklas' “Ironman Stoibermühle”:
“Belong to the living again”: Niklas Ludwig (18) has already set his
sights
on the next goals after Ironman
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