Bob Haller has been sharpening his fitness as the season gets underway.
In a similar manner to Artūrs Liepa recently, Haller took on elite competition in both cross country and swimming.
On 5th March, he raced in the Luxembourg Cross Country Championships. Over the 10.41km course, Haller finished 3rd in a time of 34:00. His time was only 23 seconds behind the winner and represented an opportunity to shake up the legs early in the season.
A few days later, on 10th March, Haller raced in the pool as he took part in the CIJ Meet in Luxembourg.
The CIJ Meet is a multinational competition with athletes from France, Germany, Belgium and Malta (as well as from Luxembourg) competing. Haller was slated to race in both the 400m and the 1500m (50m) although only took part in the latter.
In the 1500m, he recorded a time of 18:02.30. Haller’s effort was well-paced throughout. His first three 400m segments were covered in 4:47, 4:50 and 4:50 and finished with a flourish as he narrowly missed dipping under 18 minutes.
At the end of 2022, Haller became a father. More recently on the triathlon front, he won a silver medal at African Cup in Maselspoort. Despite the inevitable sleepless nights of early parenthood, Haller appears to be adapting to his new home life and his fitness is coming into form.
Across his career, he has enjoyed several World Cup top-12 finishes and will no doubt be looking for more this season.
Looking further afield, Haller will likely be hoping to throw his name into the ring to be part of Luxembourg’s Mixed Team Relay going forward.
With Eva Daniels available and Jeanne Lehair having switched to race for Luxembourg last year, Luxembourg have a good combination on the women’s side.
On the men’s side, Haller will be competing against Gregor Payet and Stefan Zachaeus for his place in the relay. Zachaeus notably won an African Cup at the end of 2022 and recently finished 41st at WTCS Abu Dhabi.
With three men to fill two relay slots, there will likely be a close race between the Luxembourgish athletes throughout the season.
