Gabriel Sandör of Sweden kicked off his season with a win at the Arlandastad Duathlon.
The race followed the classic duathlon distances of a 5km run, 20km bike and another 2.5km run. The bike portion of the race was draft-legal and Sandör won in comfort as he finished in a total time of 52:26.
The most impressive part of his race was his opening 5km in which he logged a 14:32 split. At the end of the race he also finished in a 7:22 over the 2.5km so his running is evidently in good shape. His 5km also puts him squarely in the territory of what Adrien Briffod and Maxime Fluri ran over 5km at the weekend in Lausanne.
In addition, one week prior, Sandör ran a new 10km personal best. At the Swedish 10km road race he stopped the clock at 30:08, narrowly missing the sub-30 minute mark.
Sandör drew his 2022 to a close with a win at the Asia Cup Manama in Bahrain. As a World Cup silver medallist from 2019, he appears to be rediscovering some of his best form.
In the coming weeks, he will be making his first international start of the year at the European Cup in Caorle, Italy.
Also racing at the Arlandastad Duathlon was Tilda Månsson. Fresh off an in-training 10km best time of 33:07, Månsson won the women’s race by a hefty margin. Such was her speed, she placed 6th overall, completing the course in 56:15, and beat the majority of the men’s field.
As has increasingly come to be expected, her running splits were exceptional. She recorded 16:01 for the opening 5km and then 7:56 for the closing 2.5km. There have not been many instances of female triathletes dipping under the 16 minute barrier over 5km this year. Cassandre Beaugrand is one athlete that managed it back in February, but otherwise it has not been especially common.
For Månsson to produce such a quick time therefore bodes well for her season.
She will also be joining Sandör at the European Cup in Caorle. When the both Swedish athletes arrive in T2 in Italy, then, some fireworks can be expected on the run course.
