At the recent European Triathlon Union (ETU) Congress in Athlone, Ireland, the process of electing a new President of the European Triathlon Union (ETU) was finalised. Philip Schädler of Liechtenstein ran unopposed and duly became the new President of the ETU.
“It is a great honour to become the President of the European Triathlon Union. For many years I have been working in a number of executive roles within the organisation, however, this move had not been anticipated.
“With the sudden death of our former President, Emilio di Toro, there was a gap to fill and a quick decision to make, almost too quick, and at the same time we were all digesting the passing away of a good friend,” said Schädler.
“With my experience and background, I felt obliged to step in and continue the way the whole Executive Board had began in the summer of 2009.”
When asked about his thoughts on the growing popularity of triathlon, Schädler said:
“It’s great to see that still after so many years when the sport took off in the early 80s that new people, young and old, join our sport and are enthralled by it. When I did my first triathlon in 1985 I was totally fascinated by it and was proud of having accomplished a race with 3 different disciplines.
“I am still racing today and enjoy every finish. It is very good to see that triathlon is more and more perceived as a fun sport and not as a suffering sport where people are crawling over the finish line. Triathlon is not just a physical exercise but part of a certain modern lifestyle.”
In terms of plans to promote and develop triathlon across Europe, Schädler added: “The European Triathlon Union is above all responsible for the European Championships and European Cup races in multisport disciplines like triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and winter triathlon. Therefore we have to ensure that these races are kept on a high level as a showroom for our sport in Europe.
“On the other hand we have to develop many areas of the sport like the training of technical staff, event organisation, communication, new race formats, governance, sport promotion etc. We have set up a strategy and development plan recently and are currently working to set up different development projects all over Europe.”
In terms of Schädler’s vision for the future of the European Triathlon Union: “It is important that the ETU is adding value to the affiliated National Federations. This we want to achieve with top organised races, very good development programs in place and an efficient, transparent and united organisation that makes everybody proud to be part of it.”
