Wojciech Kopyciński Wins Five Out of Five

Wojciech Kopyciński started five races on this season’s Garmin Triathlon Tour, the Polish series, and crossed the line first every time. The fifth win came at Stężyca.

From Sir Bani Yas to quarter distance

Kopyciński opened the season at Sir Bani Yas, then raced long distance in South Africa, where he placed 8th. After that he concentrated on the Garmin Triathlon Tour. In early July he won at Gołdap, Poland, in 1:55:30. At Syców he took the quarter distance in a strong field, beating Marek Janisz, Sergiusz Sobczyk and Miłosz Sowiński, the last of them by a dozen or so seconds.

He admits he had not planned this many starts in the Garmin series before the season began. “The wins are satisfying, but I do not attach much weight to them. What pleases me is that I am holding a high and stable level and developing very fast,” he says.

The Elbląg record that stood for more than a decade

The biggest result of his season is 1:48:57 at Elbląg, Poland, where he raced against Miłosz Sowiński, Tomasz Marcinek and Jakub Maliszewski. The time broke a barrier the Garmin Triathlon Tour organisers set more than ten years ago under the project “Breaking 1h50’/Breaking 2h00′”. Nobody had managed it before. The result carried a cash prize.

“I started at 3:15 per kilometre and held that to the end. The final pace over 10.5 km came out at about 3:17. I did not quite believe it, because there were strong names racing and nobody had done it before,” he says of the race.

The win meant something extra to him. Elbląg is where he made his triathlon debut in 2021, watching the leading athletes of the series. “I used to dream about just getting close to the guys who were winning this race. Now I have posted a result nobody had managed before,” he says.

The hardest fight: running shoulder to shoulder at Syców

Kopyciński rates the run duel with Miłosz Sowiński at Syców as the hardest of his season. “We ran shoulder to shoulder and that showed me I can run very fast. The 10 km came out at about 33 minutes off a hard bike. That race helped me a lot in producing a fast run at Challenge Turku,” he recalls.

At Turku, despite groin pain on the swim, he finished 8th and posted his career best half marathon split, 1:13:06.

Quarter distance as a testing ground

Frequent racing over the shorter distance is not an end in itself for Kopyciński. It is a test ahead of target races. “In these races I test exactly what I will be doing at my target races. I check what works, the food, the tactics and how far I can push. With every start I allow myself a higher pace while avoiding the side stitch I used to have problems with,” he explains.

For newcomers he recommends the shortest option, the eighth distance, which he calls the healthiest choice for a first season in triathlon. He will not race the final stop of the series at Płock. He is going back to preparation for longer racing, but says he will return to the Garmin Triathlon Tour next year.