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“A competition straight out of a picture book”: Triathlete Niklas Ludwig sets a big exclamation mark in Croatia

2022-11-10T06:08:18.535Z


“A competition straight out of a picture book”: Triathlete Niklas Ludwig sets a big exclamation mark in Croatia Created: 10/11/2022, 07:00 By: Michael Leitner Exuberant cheering at the finish: After a tough competition, 20-year-old Niklas Ludwig was happy about second place overall. © Sportograf.com That was a tailor-made end to the season: Triathlete Niklas Ludwig delivered his best career pe


“A competition straight out of a picture book”: Triathlete Niklas Ludwig sets a big exclamation mark in Croatia

Created: 10/11/2022, 07:00

By: Michael Leitner

Exuberant cheering at the finish: After a tough competition, 20-year-old Niklas Ludwig was happy about second place overall.

© Sportograf.com

That was a tailor-made end to the season: Triathlete Niklas Ludwig delivered his best career performance in Croatia.

In 2023 we're going to the World Cup.

Kirchdorf/Munich

– It was the culmination of his eventful sporting year: triathlete Niklas Ludwig (20) secured first place in his age group and second place in the amateur classification at the Ironman 70.3 in Porec, Croatia in mid-October.

“It really was a picture-perfect competition,” enthuses the young man from Kirchdorf.

And one that brought him an important step closer to his big goals: As an amateur, Ludwig would like to win the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Lahti in 2023.

He's secured the ticket to Finland thanks to a career-best performance in Croatia.

"I'm very satisfied with how things went in Porec," says Ludwig.

"That was my biggest success this year and proof that I'm on the right track." A year that started promisingly, but then had a nasty surprise in store.

During winter training on the island of Fuerteventura, the 20-year-old had meticulously prepared for the season and above all for The Championship in May in Slovakia – the World Championships organized by Challenge.

However, the competition took place without him: due to a protracted bone irritation in the hip, the future triathlon professional had to keep his feet still.

Triumphant return after a protracted injury

But the injury did not throw Niklas Ludwig off course.

At the end of June he made his comeback - and promptly won the aquabike contest at the Challenge Kaiserwinkl-Walchsee.

From then on things went steadily upwards: at the beginning of August he came third at the triathlon in Nuremberg over the Olympic distance of 1.5 kilometers swimming, 40 kilometers cycling and ten kilometers running.

Shortly afterwards, at the Collins Cup of the Professional Triathletes Organization (PTO) in Slovakia, the Kirchdorfer tackled the longer middle distance – and was happy about winning the age group and fifth place overall.

(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)

Focused view before the start: Niklas Ludwig wanted to be right at the front in Porec right from the start.

© Sportograf.com

Things went even better at the PTO US Open in Dallas in mid-September.

One kilometer of swimming, 56 kilometers of cycling and eleven kilometers of running were on the program there – and in the end nobody was faster than the man from Kirchdorf.

Actually.

Because Ludwig was disqualified because he once unwittingly ended up in the wrong lane on the bike course and thus took a shortcut against the rules.

"At the finish I was completely surprised that I had missed a measuring station," says Ludwig.

"Maybe I wouldn't have won without the involuntary shortcut - but I would definitely have finished second." Even if the race result didn't find its way into his sporting vita because of the disqualification, "I knew that my performance was strong".

"I now have the confidence that as an amateur I can win the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in 2023."

Ludwig was able to more than confirm this at the end of the season in Porec in mid-October.

There, the middle distance ran like clockwork: the 20-year-old climbed out of the water in third place after 1.9 kilometers, burned the fastest 90-kilometer bike time onto the asphalt and also found a very good rhythm in the half marathon.

"I got the problems I had in the running discipline under control last year," summarizes Ludwig, who saved a lot of time, especially in the transition zones.

The reward was victory in the age group M18 to 24 and second place in the amateur rankings.

His time: 4:07.12 hours.

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"The performance is there," says Ludwig.

"I now have the certainty that as an amateur I can win the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in 2023." After that he will apply for the professional license for 2024.

The athlete, who has since moved to Munich, has already started preparing for the new season after a short break.

"I'm sure I can get even better.

I will continue to do everything in my power to achieve my goals.”

You can find more current news from the district of Freising at Merkur.de/Freising.

Source: merkur

All sports articles on 2022-11-10

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