After a season in the proverbial slack basket, Tijmen Smit is eager to show himself again in the triathlon field. The born Bergentheimer (Overijssel) took a little too much heat in 2022 by finishing three full triathlons in ten weeks: Roth, Maastricht and Almere. "Think of it as a reaction to the corona year in which everything fell silent. This was overcompensation and unfortunately resulted in a stress factor in my heel," Tijmen looks back.
As a young guy, he was mostly in the pool a lot; his roots are in competitive swimming. When he began to dislike the training regime more and more, he switched to water polo, but young Tijmen couldn't fully express himself there either. He also ran regularly with his father and when he got his first job in Borculo, just a stone's throw away from the Goossens bicycle store, his love for cycling ignited. The triathlete Tijmen Smit saw the light.
He signed up with Argo in Wierden and in the early years played for that team in the premier division. After that, he switched to TTvW from Hof van Twente, but Tijmen missed the pure speed to keep up with the top. "I am a real diesel. That's why I wanted to gain some experience on the long distance." That happened in 2017 and immediately resulted in a silver in his Age Group at the European Long Distance Championships in Almere.
The holy fire for long distance was ignited. Tijmen took a coach in hand and has focused entirely on the longer work ever since. With occasional forays into the team competitions: in these he currently competes for TV Dordrecht, since moving to Hardinxveld-Giessendam a few years ago.
"Next week the Ironman Cascais is on the program. I feel super fit again after a year of injury and am keen to get a good result there," speaks a motivated Tijmen. The products of AthleteSportsWorld of essential importance: "For a full triathlon you have to put in a lot of hours and ASW has an extensive product range. Especially because I cycle a lot I know exactly what I need and they advise me perfectly. I am also very happy with my Gobik clothing and I have a real sock fic: with the colorful socks from Sporcks I always look good. ASW just has very good quality material!"
Tijmen's program:
21-10 Ironman Cascais
2024:
Cross duathlons
Some nice half triathlons
Ostseeman Glücksburg
