Faris Al-Sultan

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Faris al-Sultan

Country	Germany
Alias	The Sultan of Sweat
Club
Date of birth	January 21, 1978 (1978-01-21) (age 30)
Place of birth	Munich, Germany
Personal Best	8’14:00, 2005
Titles
Highest World Ranking:	2005 Mens Ironman World Champion

Faris al-Sultan born January 21, 1978 in Munich, Germany to a German mother and an Iraqi father, is a professional triathlete and the winner of the 2005 Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

Faris is known for his strengths in all three triathlon disciplines. In the running segment, he has a consistent but uncommon form of a long stride and loose arms, described as "looping." In competition, he typically wears a Speedo and half-singlet. His interest in triathlon was inspired by Thomas Hellriegel, a German triathlete.

Al-Sultan started out as a collegiate swimmer before taking on triathlon. His first Ironman in 1997 was the notoriously difficult Lanzarote Ironman, which he completed in a time of 10:33. Al-Sultan won his first Ironman at the inaugural running of Ironman Arizona in 2005. He competed at the Ironman world championships in Hawaii in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004 before finally winning there in 2005. The favorite that year, fellow German Normann Stadler, withdrew due to flat tires. In al-Sultan's return to defend the title in 2006, he placed third. At the 2007 championships, Faris did not compete due to a case of gastroenteritis the morning of the race. He said choosing not to compete "was one of the hardest decisions of my life."^[1]

In addition to his athletic training, al-Sultan was a graduate student at Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, working on a Master's degree in Arabic language, literature, and history. Al-Sultan dropped out of graduate school before completing his degree in order to focus on triathlons.

[edit] External links

• Official Website

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Faris al-Sultan News Archive. faris-al-sultan.de (2008-04-16). Retrieved on 2008-04-16.

v • d • e Ironman Triathlon World Champions (men) Gordon Haller (1978) · Tom Warren (1979) · Dave Scott (1980) · John Howard (1981) · Scott Tinley (Feb 1982) · Dave Scott (Oct 1982) · Dave Scott (1983-1984) · Scott Tinley (1985) · Dave Scott (1986-1987) · Scott Molina (1988) · Mark Allen (1989-1993) · Greg Welch (1994) · Mark Allen (1995) · Luc Van Lierde (1996) · Thomas Hellriegel (1997) · Peter Reid (1998) · Luc Van Lierde (1999) · Peter Reid (2000) · Tim DeBoom (2001-2002) · Peter Reid (2003) · Normann Stadler (2004) · Faris Al-Sultan (2005) · Normann Stadler (2006) · Chris McCormack (2007) (women)