The "long-distance workhorse" takes part in the indoor triathlon format Arena Games ++ kick-off of the e-sports world championship series 2023
The indoor triathlon format "Arena Games powered by Zwift" is the triathlon e-sport racing series - a mixture of real life and virtual reality, which fans can follow live on site in the arena, but also on television. The Arena Games concept was born during the COVID-19 pandemic and has attracted a huge audience thanks to its innovative and exciting indoor racing concept. Here you can experience the stars of the short-haul up close.
The format
200 meter swim in a 50m pool
4 km cycling on interactive trainers
1 km run on self-powered treadmills
Cycling and running events are mapped via ZWIFT.
Each event in the Arena Games regular triathlon series will be held in heats and a final. Heats feature two heats of swim-bike-run, while the finals see the day's 10 fastest pros compete in Arena Games' unique Super League triathlon format to determine the winner.
Sanders: "To the point of puking"
Lionel Sanders says he's ready to push his limits to see if he can match some of the fastest athletes in sprint racing as he prepares for a dramatic Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift debut to kick off the World Championship Series 2023 prepared in Montreal. While the Canadian has home field advantage for Saturday's race at Parc Olympique, he has no illusions about the challenge ahead. Sanders specializes in Ironman races lasting around eight hours, but he's never gone head-to-head on such an extremely short supersprint distance.
Photo: Darren Wheeler / Super League
Lionel Sanders said: “My tactics will be pretty simple. It's like a super VO2max session. So the tactic is this: don't mess up the starting jump and turns, best time in the swim (I would estimate 2:28 min, so maybe 2:25 min), then get your feet in your shoes quickly when changing and all out on the bike , I want to puke. Please show me vomit.
How many watts is that? I'm hoping to hold 450w for this event weighing around 70kg. The barrel will also stop Kotz border. If you do that, then you did it right."
Sanders has a weakness for swimming , which could give him the crucial deficit over such an ultra-short distance. But he's known as a beast on a bike - especially indoors on Zwift.
He said: “I would be confident that if it was a 750m swim and 20km bike ride I would certainly be able to close the gap. With Zwift, I know the watts per kilogram - there would be no doubt about that for me. Unfortunately, that's not the competition distance, it's just a 4km bike ride versus a 200m swim.
"Even if I had swum really well against some of the best swimmers in the sport, personal best for the 200m, I'd probably still be 20 seconds behind. 20 seconds to fight your way back in 4km is a big challenge but I'm curious if it's possible.”
The race starts on Saturday, February 25th. at 5:30 p.m. local time (Montreal) or at 11:30 p.m. German time. Eurosport broadcasts live.
After Montreal, the series will visit Switzerland (March 12) ahead of a Grand Final in London (April 8).
