{"id":67922,"date":"2025-08-14T02:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T02:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/67922\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T02:19:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T02:19:08","slug":"van-riel-faces-world-championship-fitness-battle-after-revealing-injury-and-mental-health-concerns-elite-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/67922\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Riel faces World Championship fitness battle after revealing injury and mental health concerns – Elite News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marten Van Riel is a major doubt for next month\u2019s IRONMAN World Championship<\/a> after revealing his recent battles with injury and poor mental health.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old Belgian, who was crowned T100 Triathlon World Champion last year, admitted he now faced a race against time in his bid to line up for September\u2019s showdown in Nice.<\/p>\n

Van Riel has already experienced success on the French Riviera this season, having won IRONMAN 70.3 Nice in June, but will have to wait a little while before knowing if his body has recovered sufficiently for what promises to be a significantly tougher challenge.<\/p>\n

Tough time<\/p>\n

Posting on his Instagram account<\/a>, the athlete explained his recent struggles with both a written statement and a short video.<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cNot the news I wanted to give \ud83d\ude1f. I am in my 4th week of not running now after I got a serious ankle sprain. And I was already not feeling like myself before that \ud83e\udd15.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally I am making a little bit of progress, so hopefully I can start building some load on my ankle soon \ud83e\udd1e. Whatever happens in the next weeks I\u2019ll take it day by day, focusing on improving myself and my ankle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t given up on IM World Champs in Nice but I know everything will have to go perfect to even make the start line. So let\u2019s give it my best shot \ud83d\udc4a.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mental health battle<\/p>\n

His video message shed a little more light on the battle for both mental and physical fitness as he opened up with an explanation to his followers on why he had not posted any messages for a while.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings have not been going how I want,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been struggling a little bit with my mental health, and that often translates in not posting much on Instagram and just not communicating much in general, and then unfortunately, three weeks ago, I twisted my ankle and did some internal damage there, so I haven\u2019t been able to run since.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has honestly been a very frustrating process. I still have quite a lot of pain when I walk, so obviously running is not on the cards right now. And that\u2019s pretty difficult with Nice coming closer and closer now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying everything, working hard with the physio, I\u2019m concentrating a bit more on the bike and a swim, but we\u2019ll have to see in the next weeks whether competing in Nice will be possible. So I\u2019m going to try everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Riel, who booked his spot in Nice with an impressive second-placed finish at the IRONMAN African Championship in South Africa earlier this season, became the first T100 World Champion in 2024, finishing second once and recording three wins over the course of the season, including the Grand Final in Dubai.<\/p>\n

\"MartenMarten Van Riel takes the win and overall T100 title in Dubai in 2024 [Photo credit: PTO \/ T100]<\/p>\n

And soon after his post there was plenty of support for him from his peers.<\/p>\n

His good friend Sam Laidlow, who won the IRONMAN World Championship the last time it was held in Nice in 2023 and has roared back to form in recent weeks after a challenging start to 2025, said: \u201cYou got this ledgy \ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffc\u201d<\/p>\n

And Sam Long<\/a>, who was on hand to watch Hayden Wilde<\/a> complete one of the all-time great sporting comebacks at T100 London<\/a> over the weekend, posted: \u201cAmazing comebacks have been the thing right now \u2013 so maybe means you\u2019ll do even better at Nice!\u201d<\/p>\n

There was plenty of other encouragement too and here at TRI247 we wish Marten all the best.<\/p>\n

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