Stefan Daniel, a St. Timothy High School and University of Calgary alumnus, celebrated yet another victory at the Paratriathlon World Championship last month, raking in his fifth world championship title.
The 2022 World Triathlon Championship Finals took place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from Nov. 23 to 26. Competitors were required to complete a 750-metre swim, 20-kilometre bike ride, and five-kilometre run. Although the competition was originally planned for September, it was moved to late November due to high temperatures.
“It was a pretty long trip, but it was very cool part of the world,” Daniel said.
While the 25-year-old felt it was a longer season than usual due to the competition being postponed to the end of November, he said he had a very good year and the race in the Middle East was a great way to cap off the season.
“I was able to stay healthy, be fit, and I had a good race when it mattered,” Daniel said. “That doesn’t always happen in triathlon – it’s an unpredictable sport – so I was pretty excited with my performance.”
Daniel placed first in the PTS5 Division thanks to a time of 58 minutes and 24 seconds. The Cochranite said that due to the differences in courses, placements are a large factor in the competition. Although he said he didn’t have an amazing swim due to a bad start, he was only 10 to 20 seconds behind where he wanted to be.
“On the bikes, I was racing the Paralympic Gold Medallist from Tokyo. I was third in Tokyo so he beat me the year before, but I tried to stay behind him on the bikes, and I felt comfortable doing it,” he said. “The run is my strength, so I had to get on the run. It was a good run and I was able to take the win.”
As a five-time world champion, Daniel said the feeling is starting to sink in and he can only describe the experience as awesome. After three years of injuries and frustrations brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, he managed to get back into his rhythm.
“I think this one was very special just because I’ve had, over the last three years, a lot of injury trouble,” Daniel said. “I had a stress fracture in my foot in 2019, and I have been on and off running ever since then.
“Obviously that and the pandemic was hard on everybody, and [I] lost a year there, and it’s been a while since I’ve been back to myself. But this year I was able to get healthy again and return to race.”
With this victory secured under his belt, Daniel said outside of focusing on plans he has over the next two years, he intends to take to the world stage as a Paralympian in two years’ time.
“My top goal is to win in the Paris 2024 games. I think that has been in the back of my mind since Tokyo,” Daniel said. “I’d like to take my first win there if I can.
“I’m also doing some Half Iron man racing as well, just to get into longer distance too and we’ll see how that goes.”
