Innehållsförteckning för February 2025 från 220 Triathlon

HOTTEST NEW GEAR As Henry Ford once famously said of his cars, a customer could have: “any colour […] as long as it's black”, and the same has always been pretty much true with swim wetsuits. Here though, new swim brand Wilda have flipped things by producing a suit which is a riot of colour – blue with watery graphics on the sleeves and lower leg with a design and name inspired by the iconic River Dart. The buoyancy profile is designed with women in mind so the suit is 4mm in the body and 3mm in the legs, the idea being you could do either front crawl or breaststroke in it. The shoulders are 2.5mm with 2mm on the ankles for easier removal. The areas with the graphics are…

CHALLENGE GRAN CANARIA Location Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain Distance Olympic. Middle Date 26 April 2025, challengefamily.com This Canary Island-set event has become a regular early season marker of race fitness for both age-groupers and pros alike over the last decade. The sheltered swim course and flat run leg shouldn't pose too many problems, although it can be hot on the latter, but it's the bike course that'll test your race prowess with multiple rolling climbs. MUMBLES TRIATHLON Location Mumbles, Gower Distances Sprint; Olympic; Middle Date 10 May 2025, mumblestri.com This Ocean Lava-branded race is one of the first major open-water events of the UK season and regularly draws hundreds of racers to the gorgeous Gower peninsula. The waters of Swansea Bay will be chilly in early May, but it's visibility from the rising…

Coming from a warmer country [New Zealand], when I first moved to the UK I was baffl ed by actual winter training, and how people managed to survive the frozen months. Over time I've come to the realisation that not only is winter more than just something to be endured, there are benefits to be had from training in cold, wet, muddy, yucky weather, and we should embrace it. For most endurance athletes winter is the time for development, when you work on your endurance and efficiency. You've got more time with no major races to prepare for. Training can seem less specific but that specificity should still be there, it's just at a lower bandwidth that tends to be broader. The physiological systems that are developed during this time…

SUPPORTED BY FAQ You swim, you bike and you run, but, until race day arrives, it's rare to combine two, let alone three, of the disciplines. And that's a mistake because transition, aka ‘the fourth discipline’, is the place where you can make the greatest gains with the smallest effort. Whatever your ability, mastering the essentials of transition set-up and layout will make a big difference to your race-day effectiveness. Read on to find out how. 1. SWIM TO BIKE Once you're out of the water, pull your wetsuit down to your waist to make running easier. Wait until you reach your transition slot before pulling your suit down below your waist. Stand on the loose suit with your heel and use your free leg to step out of the…

Luis’ best bits Since he started his pro career back in 2006, Luis has consistently mixed it at the very top. Here are his greatest short-course achievements… European junior champion, 2008 World junior champion, 2008 3 x Olympian (London, 11th; Rio, 7th; Tokyo, 13th) 4 x mixed relay world champion (2015, 2018, 2019, 2022) European sprint champion, 2016 2 x supertri champion (2018, 2019) 2 x World Triathlon champion (2019, 2020) 2020 Olympic mixed team relay bronze medallist Four days shy of his 17th birthday, Vincent Luis, of Vesoul in France, finished fifth in the 2006 European junior champs, his first full race as a pro (one Alistair Brownlee, a year older than Luis, would finish third). Almost 20 years later – with an astonishing 69 top-five World Triathlon finishes…

“They use the brand's Direct Pitch technology, which fires sound into your ear canal, rather than using bone conduction” SHOKZ OPENFIT AIR £119 Unlike many of the headphones in the Shokz range, the OpenFit Air are individual devices that sit on each ear, rather than units connected by a band around the back of the head. They also use the brand's DirectPitch tech rather than bone conduction, which fires the music into your ear canal. This model follows the launch of the standard OpenFits, which I reviewed in 2023. The latter retails at £179.99, while the Air has an RRP of £119. That's a big saving, yet the duo are rather similar. They both come with a case, which charges the earphones when they're stored inside. That gives you up…

SUPPORTED BY 01 Get strength for life. You'll always be human, so functional strength is key. It's the foundation for performing everyday movements with ease and efficiency, like climbing stairs, lifting objects, or getting down to play with grandkids. Regular strength training enhances your ability to handle these tasks, making life more comfortable and enjoyable. Even if athletic performance isn't your goal, prioritising functional strength ensures you can thrive in daily life – now and in the future. Adding strength training to your routine is an investment in maintaining independence and quality of life, emphasising functional strength as the cornerstone before focusing on athletic prowess. 02 Delay aging. Aging isn't easy. Visible signs aside, it often comes with muscle loss, reduced strength, power, and speed. You might notice changes in posture, increased…

WHY I TRI Sally says… I was just running, but Esther was competing in triathlons, so I thought I'd add another discipline and become a duathlete! In November 2023, I decided to race at Bicton Park in Devon and found out at Christmas that I'd qualified to go to Coimbra in Portugal to represent my country in the European Championships. There's no better feeling than that. I love training with Esther, particularly on the days I don't feel like it because we encourage each other to keep going. We share a fantastic coach, Stephen Clark, and have a bit of banter and rivalry when we're doing efforts and both think we can go faster than the other. It's just amazing. I never thought I'd be able to train and race…

HELEN WEBSTER 220's editor is also a qualified open-water swimming coach. ROB SLADE 220's content editor and resident adventure seeker. MATT BAIRD Has spent years testing tri kit and accessories for 220. JACK SEXTY A strong age-grouper focusing on top-end gains. JAMES WITTS Former 220 editor James specialises in sports science. OUR RATINGS 0-49 % POOR SIMPLY PUT, DON'T BOTHER! 50-69 % AVERAGE IT'LL DO THE JOB WELL ENOUGH 70-79 % GOOD A DECENT PERFORMER 80-89 % IMPRESSIVE ONE OF THE BEST YOU CAN BUY 90+ % BUY NOW A GENUINE CLASS LEADER…

TOP-END WETSUITS If your goal is to exit T1 first, you'll want a suit that strikes the balance between flexibility, buoyancy and comfort, while also being super easy to remove on the fly. Orca Apex Flex £589 Soft and flexible; ideal for good swimmers. Issue 432 orca.com Yonda Ghost 3 £589 Impressive mix of flexibility and buoyancy. Issue 417 yondasports.com Sailfish G-Range 8 £691 Unrivalled freedom and the fastest on test. Issue 432 sailfish.com Zone3 Vanquish X £699 A dizzying array of tech put to good use. Issue 432 zone3.com Zoggs Hypex Ultra FS £700 Incredibly supple; improved hydrodynamics. Issue 432 zoggs.com BUDGET WETSUITS Always try before you buy as sizes can vary massively between brands. Then consider your swim ability, as some features may be lost on newbies (e.g.…

Whether you follow a plant-based diet already or are trying it out during Veganuary, it's important to get the right nutrients to fuel your training (and racing, if you continue beyond January). To help, we turned to David and Stephen Flynn, authors of The Happy Pear 20 which celebrates 20 years since they opened their own fruit and veg shop with a dream of ‘creating a happier, healthier world and building community’. Since then the duo have expanded to add a coffee roastery, two organic farms, a cookery app and six cook books… Not only that, but they are keen endurance athletes so know a thing or two about fuelling and recovering with plants! Over the next few pages we ask them some questions to help you get things right –…