{"id":17614,"date":"2019-05-31T16:48:55","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T16:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.challenge-family.com\/challenge-family\/uncategorized\/pros-ready-for-thechampionship-where-idols-become-rivals\/"},"modified":"2024-05-29T15:46:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T15:46:24","slug":"pros-ready-for-thechampionship-where-idols-become-rivals","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.challenge-family.com\/challenge-family\/news\/pros-ready-for-thechampionship-where-idols-become-rivals\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro\u00b4s ready for THECHAMPIONSHIP: \u00b4Where Idols become rivals\u00b4"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With only two days to go for <strong><em>CHALLENGE<\/em><\/strong><em>FAMILY<\/em>&#8216;s <strong><em>THE<\/em><\/strong><em>CHAMPIONSHIP &#8211; <\/em>the third edition of this flagship event &#8211; the tension for all the pro athletes is mounting. This was very obvious during the media conference just held, where pros making one thing clear: winning here in Samorin, Slovakia, is a highlighted goal in the season for almost everyone.<\/p>\n<p>Title defender Lucy Charles (GBR) doesn&#8217;t feel any pressure anyways. &#8220;I just like this race and coming back year after year. I really love this venue and it&#8217;s definitely my most favourite race of the year.&#8221; Because of the low water temperature there is a possibility the swim will be shortened, of course the most favourite discipline for Charles. &#8220;But my bike and run are becoming better every year, so if the swim will be shortened: bring it on&#8221;, Charles smiled.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8216;Didn&#8217;t sign up for an easy job&#8217;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Also Sebastian Kienle, the German runner-up of last year&#8217;s men&#8217;s race, is more than ready to race and take the victory this year. &#8220;But in a strong field like this, it won&#8217;t be easy of course. Luckily I didn&#8217;t sign up for an easy job. I always want to win in fair conditions and with strong triathletes to compete with. Even when this decreases my chances to win.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest contenders for Kienle seems to be Pieter Heemeryck. The Belgian is the current leader of the <strong><em>CHALLENGE<\/em><\/strong><em>FAMILY<\/em> World Bonus and has won four Challenges in a row. &#8220;This race is my first main goal of the season. If you asked me two years ago if this was possible, I would say no. It&#8217;s like &#8216;when you&#8217;re idols become your rivals&#8217; for me. I&#8217;m really looking forward to this race.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Anything is possible<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Also Florian Angert (GER) seems to be a hard rival in this years edition. &#8220;Last year I came back two minutes ahead of Kienle in last transition, and if I&#8217;m possible to manage this again, anything is possible because I&#8217;ve improved my run. This course here in Samorin suits me very well.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>From USA it&#8217;s Ben Kanute who is eager to show his best. &#8220;Most important: I like pain&#8221;, he was joking. &#8220;A Middle Distance means it&#8217;s going to be a long day anyway. I&#8217;m trying to follow my own race plan and trying to keep others away from theirs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Build up some strength<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the women&#8217;s race, most eyes are pointed on Charles. Still it&#8217;s pretty sure Australian Amelia Watkinson will make it a hard battle for her. &#8220;It&#8217;s nice for me to come at this new place. Traditionally a flat course isn&#8217;t suiting me, but I&#8217;ve done a lot of trainings in windy conditions and build up some strength for this race.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ellie Salthouse, also from Australia, is hoping for a dream race. &#8220;I&#8217;ve got the trainings under my belt I&#8217;ve wanted earlier years&#8221;, she was looking back on some injuries. &#8220;I&#8217;m trying to become better every day. For me having the right mentality is a key point in my season so far. What attracts me the most in the race here? That&#8217;s definitely the high class calibre of athletes starting.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can&#8217;t wait to start<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Of course also Radka Kahlefeldt and Daniela Bleymehl has some good chances to end up on podium or win this years <strong><em>THE<\/em><\/strong><em>CHAMPIONSHIP<\/em>. Bleymehl: &#8220;I&#8217;m in a really great shape and I&#8217;m ready to wreck the bike course. My preparations were amazing and for me this is the first big race for which I can&#8217;t wait to start.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For the official Livestream of <strong><em>THE<\/em><\/strong><em>CHAMPIONSHIP <\/em>go to: <a href=\"http:\/\/live.challenge-family.com\/\">http:\/\/live.challenge-family.com\/<\/a> .<br \/>\nThe Live Coverage will start on Sunday June 2 at 8:45 am.<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: Jose Luis Hourcade<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With only two days to go for CHALLENGEFAMILY&#8216;s THECHAMPIONSHIP &#8211; the third edition of this flagship event &#8211; the tension for all the pro athletes is mounting. This was very obvious during the media conference just held, where pros making one thing clear: winning here in Samorin, Slovakia, is a highlighted goal in the season [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":17615,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[25,34],"class_list":["post-17614","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-challenge-family","tag-the-championship-2019"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pro\u00b4s ready for THECHAMPIONSHIP: \u00b4Where Idols become rivals\u00b4 - Challenge Family<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.challenge-family.com\/challenge-family\/news\/pros-ready-for-thechampionship-where-idols-become-rivals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pro\u00b4s ready for THECHAMPIONSHIP: \u00b4Where Idols become rivals\u00b4 - Challenge Family\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With only two days to go for CHALLENGEFAMILY&#8216;s THECHAMPIONSHIP &#8211; the third edition of this flagship event &#8211; the tension for all the pro athletes is mounting. This was very obvious during the media conference just held, where pros making one thing clear: winning here in Samorin, Slovakia, is a highlighted goal in the season [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.challenge-family.com\/challenge-family\/news\/pros-ready-for-thechampionship-where-idols-become-rivals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Challenge Family\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-29T15:46:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.challenge-family.com\/challenge-family\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2024\/05\/image-2019-05-31.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.challenge-family.com\/challenge-family\/news\/pros-ready-for-thechampionship-where-idols-become-rivals\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.challenge-family.com\/challenge-family\/news\/pros-ready-for-thechampionship-where-idols-become-rivals\/\",\"name\":\"Pro\u00b4s ready for THECHAMPIONSHIP: \u00b4Where Idols become rivals\u00b4 - 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