Israel’s senior Olympic triathlete Shahar Shagiv finished 12th today in the Grand Finale competition in the World Championship round – the most important competition in the round, which was held in Abu Dhabi in which the 66 best triathletes in the world participated. The competition was conducted in difficult weather conditions of 29 degrees.
This competition awards the highest score in the Olympic scoring. The 28-year-old Shagib added 509 points to his balance today – the highest number of points he has ever achieved in the competition. These points add up to his Olympic ranking. He entered the competition ranked 32nd and according to the assessment, he will improve his ranking significantly.
Shahar came out of the water at the end of the swimming competition when he was ranked 33rd. In the riding competition he was very aggressive and together with the Norwegian riders took it upon themselves to reduce the gaps with the leading group and finished the ride 40 seconds after the first group. In the running competition (10 km), Gib demonstrated a very impressive ability and finished it in a time of 30:30 minutes and ultimately finished the competition in an impressive 12th place.
Those who accompanied Shagib in the competition in Abu Dhabi as tourists are his parents, the father, whose name is Shagib, an Olympic marathon runner (Los Angeles 1984) who was on his training team on the way to Tokyo 2020, and his mother Rachel. Immediately after the competition Shagiv was taken to a drug test, his second in 48 hours.
Shahar Shagiv: “I am very satisfied with my performance today here, on the soil of Abu Dhabi. This is my highest ranking ever in my career in the Granada Finale on the World Championship Tour. My previous best result was 15th place, in Australia in 2018. I am going into the break with a wonderful feeling . The hard work has proven itself. In March 2023 I will already start the next season, on the way to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and I am sure that I will continue to progress.”
His coach Lior Cohen: “This was one of the highest quality competitions that I have experienced as a coach. I am very satisfied with the performance of Shahar Shagiv who can go on break after a hard and strenuous season and rest for the next one. It was a record competition for him and in my estimation he will jump significantly in the Olympic ranking.”