We left you with an open question:

will Richard Hynek save his title of Trifecta World Championship earned in 2019?

The answer is YES, he did it.

But the 2022 crown was not granted at all. 

Competing in the Spartan Trifecta World Championship means to get in the game of a 3 days/3 races Championship starting from Sprint, passing by Super and finally conquering the Beast. 

Each distance is only part of the path to Glory that every single athlete - no matter if they are Elite, Age Group or Open - have to take to conquer the title of Champion.

Everyone is a Champion in Sparta and Richard demonstrated that only with grit and resilience you can turn the tables. 

First things first. The Sprint.

We started the Friday with the shortest distance: the Sprint.

Gregory Basilico is the fastest who came to the finish line in only 34 minutes and 29 seconds. 

He was followed by Sergei Perelygin (35:26) and Thomas Buyle (35:34). 

With the course crossing the center of the city, everyone was part of the battle encouraging the athletes clapping and screaming out loud.

It was only the beginning of the game, all cards were still on the table. 

We went to bed with an obsession: the Super on Saturday. The Day after.

How was the podium going to be? Will the Sprint winners save their spots on the first 3 places?

The Super is the middle distance, the one where trail running meets obstacles, still an “easy” step to take for such trained athletes.

But this Super is different. With a distance of 11.2km and a gained elevation of 239m, every athlete running the Super starts feeling the weight of the Sprint the day before. 

Despite this, Gregory Basilico finished his race in 57:46 earning the 2nd place on the podium, as he was overcome by Pavel Hrdina, who conquered the Super in 57:07. 3rd place went to Rylan Schadegg with 58:06. 

Only a few seconds divided the athletes for a competition neck to neck. Heart by heart. 

We continued asking ourselves: how’s Richard positioned in the Ranking? Is there still a chance for him to win? 

He was not in the podium for either Sprint and Super and the path to save his title was getting hard. 

And then the Beast's time came. 

Richard was confirmed to start with a gap of 2 minutes and 23 seconds from the leader - Gregory Basilico. He was 5th in the Staggered Time ranking. 

Everyone was ready to challenge the Beast, the longest distance with 22,5km and 827m of earned elevation. It was even harder considering the 2 races already conquered in the previous 48 hours and the heavy rain that welcomed us that Sunday morning. 

You need grit and resilience to get to such a finish. 

After 2 hours on the course, the Sun came out and we saw Richard from a distance. He was crossing the MultiRig. But failed and went to the Burpees area. 

It didn’t matter though. Richard came first with a gap of 10 minutes from the leader and enough time at disposal to jump the fire of Sparta enjoying the warmth of the crowd. 

He was the Trifecta World Champion 2022. 

Everyone is a Champion in Sparta and you made the 2022 Spartan Trifecta World Championship even more special. 

See you in Sparta on November 3-5 2023. Don’t miss it.