On Saturday, after the official press conference of the first and spectacular edition of the IRONMAN 70.3 Valencia, whose almost 3,000 registrations flew in 60 days, Lo Bergre, who attended the event as the top favorite, smeared himself with sun cream, took a gel and went running with some companions on the Malvarrosa beach. Just a few hours later (7:30 in the morning), the Frenchman would already be swimming in the water of the Marina along with the rest of the professionals.
Bergre made good predictions, basing his victory on the power in the cycling segment that reached the Sierra Calderona and later managing the advantage in the foot race along the Tria River bed. He secured a place in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship to be held in Taupo (New Zealand), although the great fight for the triathlete, who was the world champion of the World Series in a surprising way in 2022, is to achieve a ticket for the Games patriots. Something not easy in the powerful French team.
Behind the winner at the finish line located in the City of Arts and Sciences is an amazing life story. Born 27 years ago in Le Pont-de-Beauvoisin, a small town in the Department of Isere, Bergre spent a good part of his childhood far away from there, steeped in the customs and way of life of the Hnamane tribe, on the island of Lifon, in New Caledonia.
His family moved to that Pacific area, since his mother accepted a teaching position. He was seven years old and lived with a local tribe in the jungle, sharing their local customs and respect for nature. “That is an integral part of who I am today. In New Caledonia life was different from that in France, the roots of society are centered on different things. They focus on their people, on their connection with nature,” he explained. In an interview. “He knew how to be independent, how to be strong and had developed a lifelong love of being outdoors,” she said.
Upon his return to France, Lo, who also tried such striking modalities as canicross and breakdancing, focused on triathlon, and at the age of 15 he was already in a high-performance center. His greatest successes came after the Tokyo Games, although in a surprising way he became known to the world after his ITU World title, winning the key event in Abu Dhabi in 2022. That same year he also won the IRONMAN 70.3 in Lanzarote . His victory in 2023 at the IRONMAN 70.3 in Oceanside also stands out.
In Valencia, Bergre won with a time of three hours and 40 minutes, ahead of the Germans Jan Stratmann and Jannik Schaufler. In the women’s category, also Germans (Carolina Pohle and Lena Meibner) were the ones who accompanied the Danish Laura Madsen on the podium. “I enjoyed the entire race, from start to finish, and I really recommend this test for the future, the organization has been incredible for its first year. I have really enjoyed this competition, it helps me mentally prepare for the Olympic Games in Paris now.” have a strong rhythm”, declared the French champion after the victory.
The first Spanish athlete was Carlos Oliver Vives ninth, while the local Roberto Sánchez Mantecn was 12. Among women, Judith Corachan it was 10 and Laura Gomez17.