110 children and young people between the ages of five and fourteen fought in St. Moritz on Saturday in the Pho3nix Kids Triathlon by Nicola Spirig. The Swiss Olympic Champion personally welcomed her to the finish line.
Swim at the Ovaverva sports centre, then over the slide to cycle and run on the 400 m track on the polo field: 110 girls and boys competed in the traditional kids triathlon for the seventh time in St. Moritz. The young athletes came from all over Switzerland, and the local club “Home of Triathlon St. Moritz” provided a particularly large group.
Behind the event is Olympic champion and mother Nicola Spirig, who, like many young and elite athletes, has been training in St. Moritz for years.
She did not miss the opportunity to participate in the St. Moritz youth competition shortly after returning from her fifth Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“Sport is more than just an active pastime for children, it promotes their physical and mental development, creates friendships and is a very good way of life,” says the 39-year-old mother of three children. “Triathlon is particularly suitable for children. It requires a wide range of skills and thus promotes children's versatility.”
The fact that the St. Moritz Club “Home of Triathlon” brought a particularly large number of children to the start is not only due to the local proximity.
For several years, local trainer Semira Bontognali has been supporting the region's children and has thus been able to get more and more young people excited about triathlon. It is not uncommon for children to meet the great champions of multisport during training, as they train in the same indoor pool as Olympic champions, Ironwomen, World Cup winners and many up-and-coming talents.
“Triathlon is a sport for everyone here in St. Moritz,” says Nicola Spirig after the successful seventh Kids Triathlon.
And it should stay that way: Although she has not yet decided how her career in top-class sport will continue, she already knows that she will support children and youth beyond her active career.
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photos: Kirsten Stenzel Maurer
Pho3nix Kids Triathlon by Nicola Spirig
Reto Hug, organizer
mail@retohug.ch
+41 79 307 17 50
Christian Gartmann is a founding member of the Home of Triathlon association and was a board member for several years. He supports the association in its public relations work.