Eneko Llanos meets 40 years

Today November 30 Eneko Llanos meets 40 years and we want to celebrate doing this little review of his sports career.

 

The first thing to emphasize about the vitoriano, before explaining his sports career, is his honesty, perseverance, versatility and finally, his results.

Eneko Llos had his first contact with triathlon at the beginning of the 90 decade, thanks to his brother Hektor who started at 1991 and Eneko after seeing him compete in several races decided to take the step and debut in 1992. A year later he already played several Basque duathlon circuit events.

His first important results came in 1995 when he was proclaimed champion of Spain Junior and was top10 in the World Cup of Gerardmer (running in elite category). Five years later he managed to be an Olympian in Sidney Games performance that he would repeat at 2004 at the Olympic Games of Athens.

The 2002 year was a big change for Eneko, to date had trained with Pedro Garrido and this year he started doing it with Íñigo Mujika what earned him to get several top10 in World Cups thanks to his improvement in the race on foot. A year later at 2003 Eneko made one of his best seasons as long distance world champion in Ibiza and Xterra world champion. He also won the national Olympic distance title where he escaped by bike and the second place in Europe in Valencia, which earned him practically the classification for Athens.

The Olympic Games of Athens in 2004 marked a change in Eneko's sports career. In the Greek capital was 20 º but I do not finish completely satisfied. After the Olympic event the following year he decided to take the leap into the distance of the triathlon, the Ironman. The beginnings in 2005 were very hard because he could not finish any of his first three Ironman. But the fourth was the victory at the November 27 2005 got the 2ª position in the Ironman Western Australia and with it the classification for the World Cup Kona 2006. In this 2006 could not finish in Lanzarote or Roth, but in Austria was 3, behind his brother Hektor (2) in what is possibly one of their most emotional podiums to share with his brother.

His debut in Kona was spectacular with a great 5 position. The following year in 2007 Eneko took off the thorn of Lanzarote and Roth, in "The Island" he achieved his first victory in Ironman, in Roth it was 2º and Kona settled with another great result at the end of 7º. The 2008 season meant another leap in the quality of Vitoria, when it was proclaimed Ironman European champion in Frankfurt y Ironman world runner-up in Hawaii.

In 2009 he got the 2ª place in Frankfurt and the following year in 2010 he won again Lanzarote. In the 2011 season, Eneko returned to make history by being the first Spaniard to break the 8h barrier in an Ironman, achieving victory in Arizona with 7: 59: 38. Months before I had managed to beat the Ironman of Texas, possibly the most prestigious in the US after Kona.

Of the year 2012, above all, we must highlight the silver medal in the LD World Championship in Vitoria running at home The following year Eneko returned to grow (even more) when managing to win in two continental championships, gaining the IM of Melbourne in Australia and the IM of Frankfurt where it returned to lower of 8h for the second time in its sport race. In these last years Eneko has always been with the best, as demonstrated by the 3ª Roth square and the 2ª of the IM Fortaleza in 2014, the 5º post in South Africa, the 8º in Frankfurt and the 7º in Kona in 2015 and this season his third position in Frankfurt.

Eneko Llanos is the best Spanish long-distance triathlete and it will be very difficult for anyone to get over it, he has qualified for Kona 11 times consecutively. He is also a very complete triathlete, possibly the most complete in history with great results in all distances and in many disciplines. Below we will make a summary of their most outstanding careers, victories and achievements:

- 11 participations in the World of Hawaii, 8 times finisher. Best result 2º in 2008 and 5 times top7. Only Spanish to achieve all that.
- 2 times Olympic (Sidney 2000 and Athens 2004)
- 4 times World Champion (Xterrax from Xterra and 3 LD)
- 4 times European Champion (1 from IM, 1 LD and 2 Cross Triathlon)
- 1 silver medal European Championship DO in 2004
- 8 times Olympicfrom Spain (1 sprint, Olympic 3, 1 university, 1 duathlon cross, 1 white triathlon, 1 triathlon cross)
- 6 victories in Iroman (Lanzarote 2007 and 2010, Texas 2011, Arizona 2011, Melborune 2013 and Frakfurt 2013)
- Victories in three different IM Continental Championships Asia-Pacific (Melbourne), Europe (Frankfurt) and North America (Texas)
- 12 podiums at Ironman
- 2 times podium in Challenge Roth (2º in 2007 and 3º in 2014)
- First Spanish in downloading 8h at Ironman (7: 59: 38 Arizona 2011)
- Only Spanish to download 2 times from 8h in Ironman
- Spanish that more times has descended from 8h 10min in Ironman. (7 times)
- 11 wins in the International Triathlon of Zarautz.
- And multiple medals in Championships of Spain, European and global that we have not cited.
- More than 300 races played with 92 wins.
- 22 seasons competing with the best in their sport, something within the reach of very few athletes in their sporting career.

(Information obtained from the Eneko Llanos website and the Triathlon News file)

Congratulations Eneko and thanks for all you have contributed to the world of Triathlon with your values ​​and your example!

Thanks: To thank Ruth Brito, Hugo Llanos and Hektor Llanos for their collaboration in making this article.