THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sridath Sudheer, a resident Of Thenhipalam in Malappuram, celebrated his 18th birthday in true ‘endurance sports’ style. He qualified in the Ironman European Championship in Hamburg, Germany on his 18th birthday, where he swarmed, cycled and ran for 226.2 km in 13 hours when the cut off time was 16 hours. This Dubai born-and-brought-up lad is now eying the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to compete in the triathlon and win a medal for India.
Sridath’s journey in sports started at the young age of 11 where he went on to win a black belt in karate. Gradually, he started playing football. At the age of 14, Sridath decided that he wanted to pursue diverse sporting disciplines. Under the guidance of two Malayali coaches in the UAE, Pradeep Kumar of Aqua Nation Sport Academy and Mohandas Puthukkattu of Kerala Riders, Sridath honed his skills in triathlon — swimming, cycling and running.
His recent completion of the Ironman race in Hamburg has made him one of the youngest Ironman finishers in the world. Sridath was beaming with pride while recalling to TNIE that he is the first Malayali and third sports personality in the world to complete the Ironman category on his 18th birthday.
“My current coach in cycling is a Russian – Artem Tom Moskovkin. Andrey Glushchenko, a Ukrainian who has represented Ukraine in the Olympics three times and is a World champion medalist in triathlon, has also trained me. I chose the Dubai government’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority’s Rahhal programme, a hybrid learning model that helped me balance my academics and sports. I am looking forward to watch the triathlon event in the Paris Olympics. I aim to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and win a medal for India in triathlon,” said Sridath.
Son of Sudheer Kumar, a service head (director) with a leading electronics company and Ranjitha Ravi, a homemaker, Sridath is getting ready to start his college life by pursuing BBA in Business Analytics from University of Wollongong, Dubai.
His goal is to win a medal in the 2026 Asiad in Japan followed by the Commonwealth Games. Despite living in Dubai, the Kerala Triathlon Association (KTA) and Indian Triathlon Federation have been rendering help to Sridath on the upcoming triathlon events that happen around the world.
Who’s a triathlete
A triathlete trains to achieve endurance, strength and speed. This tough sport requires focused persistent and periodical training for each of the three disciplines, cycling, swimming and running as well as combination workouts and general strength conditioning.