Abu Dhabi: Defending champion Mario Mola can’t wait to start racing in the ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi. One of the main reasons being the success that the Spaniard has enjoyed here at the capital course.
He has been at his dominant best and has eclipsed the strong field not once but twice in a row and is now eyeing a hat-trick of titles.
“I’m excited about racing in Abu Dhabi. Over the past few years, it’s been a great way for me to start the season and build confidence towards the rest of the races,” said Mola, whose challenge will be more stiffer this time round with the presence of World champions, Olympic medallists and world-record holders.
World No.3 Fernando Alarza, World No.5 South Africa’s Richard Murray, Portugal’s Olympian Joao Silva will compete, along with South Africa’s Olympic bronze medallist and World No.4 Henri Schoeman — and crowd favourite, the five-time ITU World Champion and two-time Olympic medallist, Javier Gomez who also makes his return.
“This year isn’t going to be easy, and it never was. With Javier back racing after not being able to compete last year, I’m sure that will bring a good battle. There’s also the South African team that has already raced in Cape Town a few weeks ago and are in good shape; they showed that they are prepared to race well, and of course the rest of the guys looking to start the season well, so I’m expecting a very tough race,” said Mola, who was quite pleased with the way 2016 unfolded for him despite missing out on the Olympic medal at Rio.
“Of course, I was happy about how things went. I think I was able to race consistently during the entire year and getting the world title at the end, even with the crazy final at Cozumel. I think it was a good end to the year, and overall too, the year went very well,” said Mola, who felt that he missed out on a medal at the Games because he started “too far from the breakaway group”.
“Last year, I didn’t give too much importance to the Olympic Games [and] instead focused on the world series, surely I would have wanted to be on the podium but the other athletes did very well consistently and they got the minute/minute-and-a-half that was impossible to make up,” said Mola, who is coming into the season-opener well prepared and at the back of good training.
“I started training slightly later than other years, but I’ve been healthy the entire time which is the main goal. I hope I can start racing well in Abu Dhabi and continue that towards the next races,” said Mola, whose legendary compatriot Gomez’s form on his return to ITU racing after a broken elbow ended his 2016 season early, will also draw a lot of attention during this year’s event.
“Javier is one of the best triathletes in history, and it’s been great to be able to share moments with him. He’s someone who, on the one hand you can learn a lot from, and on the other hand gets the best of you if you want to compete with him,” said Mola, adding that Gomez is someone who has done a lot for the sport and brought it to a whole new level and he shares a very good relationship with him.
“We don’t train often together because we are in different groups, but when we get the opportunity to spend some time at races, he’s someone I really enjoy spending time with, and he’s someone you can really learn a lot from, which is always important.”
