Pickhardt has busy summer
Posted on Monday, October 2, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/Sports/40417/
BENTONVILLE — Senior Willy Pickhardt hasn’t been able to do too much with his Fayetteville High School cross country team or the Bentonville-based Northwest Arkansas Aquatics swim team because he’s been a little busy with his other team.
That’s the USA Triathlon Junior team.
Pickhardt (5-11, 135 ) spent the summer training and competing with the national team before competing in the International Triathlon Union (ITU ) World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, earlier in August.
He earned a spot at the World Championship, where he finished 27 th in the junior division, by winning the ITU Bridgeport (Conn. ) Pan American Cup Triathlon in August.
Pickhardt, 17, has been competing in triathlons since he was 10 years old.
“ I started swimming when I was 6 years old, ” he said. “ When I was 8, I picked up running and I had success with both. When I was 10, my dad got me to do a kids’ triathlon in Wichita, Kan. I didn’t like it first off but I tried another and started liking them. Ever since then triathlons have become my focus. ”
He’s competed around the state, winning two Arkansas titles, and around the country at different events.
He’s raced in California, Canada, Ohio, Tennessee and Connecticut, where he earned a spot to his first World Championships.
He won the event in Bridgeport by nearly 35 seconds to claim one of the U. S. A. ’s four spots for the junior division of the World Championships.
“ The run course was long, ” Pickhardt said of the national meet. “ I was pretty pleased because I was able to break away on the bike because you’re allowed to draft in the ITU series. Usually in the ITU series you want to be a swimmer / runner but I was able to use the bike to my advantage because I’m a lot better biker than I am runner. ”
That would have been an advantage at the World Championships also if Pickhardt hadn’t wiped out during the race.
Pickhardt was in good position midway through the race — which includes a 750-meter swim, a 20 kilometer bike race and a 5 kilometer run.
He was at the lead pack of about 50 athletes when he broke away on his bike. He was in a small group as they descended down a hill and had to make two quick turns on a cobblestone street.
“ There was a little left and a sharp right — almost 180 degree turn — and I got cut off by a kid from Portugal. I went down into the barriers. I got back up and I got back in the front group but by then all 50 people had come back together. ”
The leg that he landed on during the crash was hurting him during the run stage and he wasn’t able to gain any more ground.
Pickhardt finished 27 th in the junior division in one hour and 48 seconds and was the second American across the finish line.
Teammate Steve Duplinsky, the 2005 Junior World Champion, was 23 rd in 1: 00: 39. Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain won it this year in 59: 03.
Although he hasn’t spent much time with his other teams, his training for triathlons will likely carry over to swimming and cross country.
Pickhardt scored at this summer’s Arkansas Swimming Inc. Long Course State Championships, where the Sharks won their second straight title.
Sharks coach Steve Duwel said although training in a pool doesn’t directly help in triathlon swims, Pickhardt’s work with the Sharks is important.
“ All we really needed to do was keep him in the water and keep his feel in the water, ” Duwel said. “ A lot of his swimming is open-water swimming, so his swimming in the lanes with no waves isn’t really preparing him for what he’s going to experience (in triathlons ). Swimming works all of your muscles, and works your aerobic capacity. It gives him little extra work in those areas. ”
Duwel said Pickhardt’s swimming background gives him an advantage in triathlons.
“ The thing about triathlons is swimming is really the key, ” Duwel said. “ I think most of your really good triathletes have a swimming background. You’re Joe Average off the street can ride a bike and can run, but that person may have no idea how to swim across the pool. ”
Pickhardt will join his Bulldog teammates soon after taking some time off after the international competition.
“ I took a week off after Worlds and haven’t run in a cross country meet yet, ” he said.
Fayetteville will lean on Pickhardt, who is the team’s top returning runner after finishing 17 th at last year’s Class AAAAA State Meet, where the Springdale Bulldogs finished second.
Pickhardt said he hopes to run in college and continue doing triathlons.
“ I’m going to try to walk on to a Division I running school, ” he said. “ After that you can go pro or go to the Olympics. (Triathlons are ) a fully professional sport. ”