A little chat with Seppe Odeyn

The World Long- Distance Duathlon Champion of 2016, the Belgian Seppe Odeyn, will be in Loutraki for Powerman Greece 2019. Seppe is continuing the Belgian Legacy at the sport of Duathlon having won the Long Distance Duathlon World Championship once (2016) and finishing second twice (2015, 2017). Look what he answered us in our questions:

1. Belgium has a great history in duathlon. What does it take to be a professional duathlete in your country and how did you become one?

Yes we really had some great duathletes in Belgium. For me it is more a coincidence as I was cyclist for 10 years on a semi-pro level. And was looking for another challenge. I always liked to run and tried a crossduathlon when I was in off season. I liked it and finished on the podium. So I finished my cycling career and started to do duathlons. I’am not fulltime professional duathlete, I still got a job as a sales rep for Orbea

• Which one is your favourite discipline, running or cycling?

Difficult to choose, I really like them both so I would say it is really 50/50

• As I looked your results, I saw that you competed in 2015 at some cross triathlon and duathlon races. Do you practice mountain bike in your training and if yes what are the benefits of these trainings in your opinion?

From octobre until January I do most of my trainings on the mountainbike. It always feels like a new start of the season because you can ride off road and do other trainingsloops then with the roadbike. I also do a lot of wintercompetition. We have beachraces at the coast area. Wich are mountainbike races on the beach from 1 hour, with sometimes more than 1500 participants. Then my biggest wintergoal is always the hel from Kasterlee. It is the toughest winterduathlon in the world. With 15km run 120km MTB and again 30km run. With Belgian weather in the winter it is a really long day and I am proud 7-times winner of that race. So the benefits of mountainbiking for me are that you keep a good condition the whole year.

• What are your goals for 2019?

World championship powerman in Zofingen and Ironman Lanzarote and Cork