Team Abu Dhabi triathlete Swen Sundberg faces a race against time to be ready for the world's most prestigious Ironman event, the Hawaii world championship, in six weeks. Sundberg, 35, booked his ticket to the island by virtue of his fourth-place finish in the gruelling Kentucky Ironman on Sunday and he must now recover fully before he can focus on the sport's biggest stage. Sundberg, who came eighth in July's Roth Ironman in Germany, finished behind Viktor Zyem- tsev from the Ukraine, Australia's Luke McKenzie in second and South Africa's Raynard Tissink in third.
Sundberg, who was yesterday making his way home from the USA, should ideally give his body a minimum of two weeks to recover before training for Hawaii, but Team Abu Dhabi manager, Werner Leitner, says that may not be possible. "Usually you need time to recover from these races and Swen has competed in two demanding races fairly close together," he said. "But there are just six weeks until Hawaii and he may not have that luxury." Leitner says Sundberg's work in pre-season should stand him in good stead now.
"He has trained the whole winter time for this season and with events like Ironman, you can pick up where you left off after a break so long as you have put in the ground work," he said. stregoning@thenational.ae