Breath times three

Swiss triathlete Sven Riederer may only be 25, but he’s nonetheless one of the top triathletes in the world at present.

Maybe it’s just the clear, high-altitude air while running, perhaps the refreshing coolness of mountain lakes when swimming, or the many vertical meters covered during bike training in the Alps? In any case, one thing is clear: little Switzerland is a triathlon giant! Swiss triathletes Natascha Badmann (six-time winner of the Ironman event in Hawaii), Brigitte McMahon (Olympic winner in Sydney), Olivier Marceau (World Champion of 2000) and Reto Hug (second in the 2005 World Championship and European Champion of 1999) have been among the best in the world for years now. At the moment, however, it’s Sven Riederer who’s thought to be the very best triathlete from Switzerland. And Riederer is only 25 years old – which, in the triathlon world, is just barely past the “junior” category. For a rookie, however, Riederer already has an impressive collection of achievements under his belt: European Champion of the junior and 23-and-under divisions, 23-and-under Vice World Champion, and most importantly: bronze at the Olympics in Athens!

40-hour workweek

1.5 km swimming, 40 km biking and 10 km running: Riederer, whose “home sport” is swimming, switched to a discipline which is demanding indeed. On workdays Riederer jumps into the water before breakfast, he digests lunch on his bike, and in the evening he goes running. During phases of intensive training he’ll swim, bike and jog almost 40 hours a week. The Swiss is among those athletes who can tune their condition with a high degree of accuracy. Even so, he says that his successes have come as a complete surprise. He was dumbfounded by his Junior European Championship title in 2001. And in Athens, it had been his goal to propose to his girlfriend during the Olympic Games. As it happened, however, he decided to put that off for a few weeks because of the medal and all the attention that followed.

Stop-and-go

Riederer’s career to date has been much like an alpine pass: full of curves, but with a constant upward grade. Following his third place at the Olympic Games, a stop-and-go penalty cost him his podium place at the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis – the season’s best-paying event. But he returned to the podium – with a third place – just one month later at the European Championship in Lausanne. And less than a week after that, he became Swiss Champion.