CHENNAI: For the first time since the pandemic, the Tamil Nadu Triathlon Association (TTA) on Sunday conducted the Tamil Nadu State Triathlon Open at the Sri Ramachandra University campus here. For S Aarthi, who won gold in the sprint distance in the elite category, it has been a quick rise in triathlon over the past 12 months. A former national swimmer, the 23-year-old took up the multi-sport event — swimming, cycling and running — only last August.
Since then, she has finished on the podium (one gold and one silver) at two national meets held under the aegis of Indian Triathlon Federation (ITF) in February this year.Talking about how she decided to get into triathlon, she says: “I was a swimmer who took part in nationals for seven years. Having passed out of Loyola College last year, I could no longer take part in inter-university swimming meets. I wanted to keep myself involved in some sporting activity. Since I was already good at swimming and running, I decided to try my hand at triathlon.”
She has also been a regular at marathons in Chennai. Since enrolling herself at the Tamil Nadu Triathlon Association, she has improved her cycling too, which was her weakest suit by her own admission. “I have been focusing on cycling for the past one year. Initially, I saw this as simply a way of keeping myself busy. Over the last one year, I have become very interested in triathlon.”
The sprint category — which Aarthi participated in on Sunday — involves 750m of swimming, 20km of cycling and 5km of running. The Olympic category is exactly twice those distances. Aarthi is familiar with those distances too, having done well in the two national meets in that category.
With the Commonwealth Games scheduled for next year, the federation is conducting its first CWG qualification event at the Sri Ramachandra University campus on September 24. Aarthi has her sights set on doing well at the event. “I want to do well in the qualification event. The results of the event alone won’t be taken into consideration for CWG. Every event carries ranking points, and it is where we stand in the rankings table that matters for selection,” she informs.