CALGARY – Stefan Daniel is a four-time world champion and two-time Paralympic Games medallist, but he is going into unchartered territory this week at the Para triathlon world championships set for November 24 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
It will be the first time he competes in Abu Dhabi, and he has never experienced such a long gap between international competitions in a regular season.
The 25-year-old from Calgary hasn’t competed at an International Triathlon Union event since the World Series stops in Swansea, Wales on August 6 and in Montreal on July 8.
Daniel won both events, describing his victories among the best of his career.
But since then, it’s basically been a lot of hard training in order to stay sharp for the late scheduled worlds.
‘’It’s been good,’’ said Daniel, who skipped last year’s worlds also held in Abu Dhabi, in order to take a pause after the Tokyo Paralympics where he won the bronze medal.
‘’This is a longer break than I’m used to between events. Training has gone well, and I’ve done some races for fun since Montreal and the UK in order to stay sharp. I’m super happy with how the year has gone so far.”
The 28-time winner in ITU events isn’t concerned about the long gap.
‘’It was nice to get a block of three months training in,’’ said Daniel, who competes in the PTS5 class. ‘’I don’t need to race that much; I don’t usually have a heavy schedule.’’
The worlds will also be the first showdown between Daniel and his archrival Martin Schulz since the German won gold at the Paralympics last summer. Schulz skipped the Canadian and UK stops this season but won in Turkey last month.
Of course, the primary reason the worlds are scheduled late is the heat in the United Arab Emirates. Even in November, the Canadian team is expecting temperatures to soar in the mid-30s. The current forecast for Thursday is around 30 degrees.
‘’I was able to do some heat training at the Sport Institute in Halifax,’’ said Canadian team member Kamylle Frenette of Dieppe, N.B., fourth in Tokyo and ranked sixth heading into the worlds in the women’s PTS5 class.
‘’We put a tent in a gym and heated it up to 35 degrees and I trained for an hour and half each day for a week.”
Daniel, world champion in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019, underwent similar training except it was in an RV rather than a tent: ‘’It’s pretty brutal but usually works.”
Also on the Canadian team and a serious medal threat is Leanne Taylor of Winnipeg. She’s enjoyed a strong season in the women’s wheelchair division with four top-five finishes at ITU events including two silver and a bronze.
She was sixth at the 2021 worlds.
For more information about the 2022 world championships, visit AbuDhabi.Triathlon.org.
