Frederick Van Lierde Will you discard Kona to focus on Nice?

The Belgian triathlete Frederick Van Lierde, has won this past weekend the IRONMAN Lanzarote, getting the slot for the Hawaii Ironman, but in an interview with the newspaper  nieuwsblad.be  He says that he is not clear if he will participate in the test again.

In Lanzarote he proved to be in a great moment of form, getting the victory in the test in front of Kramer and Emilio Aguayo , and he did it just when he was turning 40 years old.

He won the test on the day of his 40 birthday

Frederick comments “For me, that number forty is just a number. I have been a professional athlete for seventeen years and I have always taken good care of my body.

Physically I'm worth more than what my age really says. When I wake up in the morning, I also feel I do not have the same explosiveness of the past. But I'm not exhausted yet "

For Van Lierde, this is his ninth victory in Ironman of his career. He has won the Ironman de Niza five times, the Ironman of Mexico and South Africa once, and of course in 2013 he won the world title in Hawaii.

"Hawaii is more difficult"

Van Lierde also talks about his perception of the test, since it is considered one of the hardest in the world "Now that I've participated, I understand where that fame comes from. The reputation is correct. Due to the profile and weather conditions, there is a strong wind everywhere.

 The time that I have achieved here is almost forty minutes slower than my best time in Hawaii. Even so, I think Hawaii is more difficult. Simply because competition and speed are much higher there ".

“I have the slot for Hawaii, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be there”

Due to the victory over Lanzarote, Van Lierde got his Slot for the IRONMAN World Championship. After his last participation, he already commented that he did not want to participate again but now he opens the door to return to Kona.

  "Even if I have the Slot does not mean that I will be in the test. I will not decide until the beginning of July. Let's face it: I will not be able to participate more to win.

Is it worth leaving everything aside for another six months to finish in the top ten? At this moment I am more inclined to focus on winning again Nice "

“IRONMAN Nice Goal”

The main objective of the season for Van Lierde, it is clear that it is the IRONMAN of Nice of the next June 30, where he will try to win for the sixth time this race becoming the athlete with the most victories in the race.

So we'll have to wait to see if we'll see him in Kona again.