Eloi Adjavon has become the first-ever athlete from Togo to line up and represent in a World Triathlon sanctioned event, at the 2021 Africa Triathlon Cup Dakhla held in Morocco in November. The sport of Triathlon is still developing in the country and the Togo National Federation has recently re-affiliated to World Triathlon. Although the National Federation of Togo, a small country situated in West Africa, has been operating for a few years, it is the first time that they have had an athlete, competing at this level. National Federations wishing to become affiliated to the World Triathlon need to meet the following requirements which are based on the World Triathlon By-Laws and Constitution.

Eloi Adjavon enjoyed his first World Triathlon race experience representing Togo and crossed the finish line in 19th position, in a stacked elite men’s field of 30 athletes on Saturday, 20 November.

“It was a very interesting first experience where I learned a lot. From traveling to the race venue with my equipment, managing the organisations schedule, the different formalities and then the actual race, a log of things were very new for me and I took home a lot of lessons. The race itself was set in a beautiful venue, especially the swim. I was quite nervous at first but got reminded by Donald Hillebregt that in the end it’s just “swim, bike, run”. I gave it what I had on the day but unfortunately my swim didn’t allow me to be in a good pack on the bike so I couldn’t really contend for any significant positions. Also the run was difficult, maybe due to the heat and I didn’t run to my full potential.”

“Nevertheless I am happy with this first result ! It shows me that there is still a lot of work to be done but that we are also on the right path. I hope to be back very soon to represent Togo at another World Triathlon event, Adjavon said.

Morocco’s Jawad Abdelmoula, a renowned runner on the World Triathlon circuit, earned the gold medal in Dakhla. Japan’s Ren Sato produced an impressive set-up to claim the silver medal and Denis Kolobrodov (RTF) finished with the bronze medal across the sprint-distance race.