Wits Triathlon athlete aims to make it count this time around
- Tshepiso Mametela
Witsie Dylan Kruger won the National Sprint Triathlon title in February and are aiming even higher for the rest of 2020.
Beaming with the elation of a proud Witsie and eager to put the institution at the forefront of University triathlon prowess, a boffin of the sport at Wits, Dylan Kruger has undertaken to hoist the country’s flag high at the upcoming FISU World University Triathlon Championships.
The honours year biokinetics student has enjoyed many successes in the sport, notably qualifying for the world championships in Rotterdam in his first year of competing in the Olympic distance race in 2017, where he finished in 14th place overall.
Coupled with this, he qualified for the world championships in 2018 and 2019 but did not make it to represent South Africa due to academic commitments. This time he hopes to make it to contention, after bagging the ITU World Cup in Cape Town last year, with the added goal of finishing in the top three as an elite athlete at the March-scheduled Olympic distance race event.
“I feel it is achievable with a good race, which will allow me to go on to World University Championships in Hungary, where I will be happy with a finish inside the top five. I would also like to compete as an elite [athlete] at the 2020 SA and Continental Cup Duathlon Championships (to be held at the Killarney International Raceway) in June,” said Kruger.
With a catalogue boasting competing at the South African championships for the last ten years, and winning in his age group for the last two years in the Olympic distance race, Kruger is quite prepared to mount a boisterous challenge here.
“I have only been to world champs for triathlon once but have never been to the World University Championships,” said the overall winner of the sprint distance races for the past two editions (2019 and 2020). “It will be a new experience which is really exciting. It will also be nice to compare myself to other athletes that balance studying and training.”
Triathlon is an endurance sport consisting of swimming, cycling and running events, raced over an Olympic distance of 1 500m as part of an open water swim, together with a 40km cycle and a 10km run. The sport comprises a sprint distance covering 750m in open water, a 20km cycle and a 5km run. For Kruger, the sport has taught him discipline and dedication in wide-ranging aspects of life.
“I couldn’t be where I am today in triathlon, without the continuous backing of my family, who provide endless emotional and financial support,” He said. “My determination to always improve has enabled me to achieve what I have in the sport. I have recently been nominated as the athlete representative for North West Triathlon and have recently completed a technical officials’ course. With this, I think my triathlon journey has only just started.”