Henning wins Vättern Triathlon
Rasmus Henning shows his class at the inaugural long-distance Vättern Triathlon, Sweden
In its first year the Vättern Triathlon attracted a class field, eventually won by Denmark’s Rasmus Henning. Sweden’s Emma Graaf took the women’s title in a clam day in Motala. Covering 4000 metres of swimming, 120 km of cycling and 30 km of running, this was a dress rehearsal for the 2015 ITU Long Distance World Championship, to be held on the same course.
The men’s race was a closely fought affair between Henning and Sweden’s Karl-Johan Danielsson. The pair were in the group first out of the water, together with Jonas Djurback and Fredrik Ahlinder, both from Sweden.
Danielsson pulled away early in the cycle putting pressure on the group and held the lead throughout the three lap course. Coming in to T2, Danielsson held a four-minute lead to Henning and nearly six minutes on Djurback. Another contender, David Näsvik, also from Sweden, was a further five minutes behind.
However Henning showed his professional class and kept making ground on Danielsson, passing him in the last kilometres of the run to take the win. Näsvik held his form and advanced strongly, overtaking Djurback to complete the podium.
The women’s race was dominated by Graaf who was second out of the water. After a lightening T1 she started the cycle in the lead and held on to it for the rest of the race. Louise Rundqvist finished four minutes behind Graaf while Ulrika Eriksson rounded out the podium, 26 minutes following.
The event was also the official Swedish Long Distance Triathlon Championship attracting a strong Swedish field in all age groups. Next year’s event will also be an open Swedish championship, while the 2015 event will be the ITU World Championship.
Results
Men:
?Rasmus Henning – 6:01:39?2.
Karl-Johan Danielsson – 6:04:45?3.
David Näsvik – 6:07:08?4.
Women:?
Emma Graaf – 7:02:16?2.
Louise Rundqvist – 7:10:50?3.
Ulrika Eriksson – 7:28:46
Matt Baird
Editor of Cycling Plus magazine 
