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Pieter Heemeryck

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7
World Rank
1
National
48
Swim
8
Bike
14
Run
Belgium
Weight
-
Height
1.78m
Age
34
Born
1989
Swim
Zone 3
Bike
Scott
Run
Hoka One One
Contract
Contract
SeasonContract
2024
View Standings
Biography More

Pieter Heemeryck

Finishing in the top five in the 70.3 World Championship is impressive by any standards.

All the more so when the podium comprises legends of the sport Jan Frodeno, Alistair Brownlee and Javier Gomez.

But that's precisely what Belgium's Pieter Heemeryck achieved in Port Elizabeth in 2018 - and he did it while still working as a primary school teacher!

It wasn't a huge shock that he turned pro at the start of the following year - and it's also no surprise that he's since put together an astonishing run of results.

Strong in all three disciplines, he's one of triathlon's brightest up-and-coming talents - a point he underlined with five race wins in 2019 as well as topping the Challenge Family World Bonus standings.

Those successes all came at 70.3, but the full iron-distance and Kona qualification are very much on his radar.

Triathlon idols become his direct rivals

Juggling a job and training is a tricky balance for thousands of amateur triathletes, but Pieter Heemeryck made it work at the very highest level of the sport.

He taught sport to six to 12-year-olds by day - and then, thanks to careful planning with his coach Lubos Bilek, fitted the swimming, biking and running around that.

"He's an excellent coach who can also build a very good balance between training and family life," he says of Bilek.

If Pieter had a busy couple of days at school, the training would be scaled down - but if it was school holidays, that meant more time to focus on triathlon. Much of the cycling needed to be indoors - and he's still a big user of Zwift.

A typical working week would see him train between 15 and 20 hours and he admits he could easily have been "scared to go to races when I saw the hours the full-time pros were putting in!"

He hadn't taken part in his first triathlon until he was 19 - it came about after an injury prevented him running and saw him return to swimming (which he'd done as a youngster) and buy his first bike.

He tried some draft legal races to start with but soon realised that non-drafting events played to his strengths and such was his progress that by his mid-20s he'd become Belgian champion over the sprint, Olympic and half-distances.

As well as the national titles and race wins, Pieter was soon catching the eye on the international stage, especially at 70.3 distance - reaching the top 10 for the first time at the World Championship in 2017.

That success at 70.3 continued at speed in 2018 as he raced a combination of Challenge and IRONMAN events, climaxing with that progression to the rarified heights of the top five at the World Championship in South Africa.

A great year was then rounded off in perfect style at the inaugural Challenge Daytona.

At the iconic racetrack - and in an event shortened due to lightning and heavy rain - Heemeryck out-duelled Andrew Starykowicz. He says of that experience: "It was incredible. On the last lap of the run, thinking that I was going to be the first winner of the race, was an amazing feeling!"

And so to the full-time pro ranks where the temptation in his first year could easily have been to increase his training load massively. But he was careful not to fall into that trap and reaped the dividends straight away.

His first seven races in 2019 produced no fewer than three wins (Challenge Half Gran Canaria, Challenge Half Salou and back on home soil in Challenge Half Geraardsbergen) as well as three podiums.

That put him on track for a nice payday as the runaway leader in the Challenge Family World Bonus standings, something that was all but confirmed at The Challenge Family's showpiece Championship Samorin, which he labels his favourite race.

A stacked field headed into that weekend in Slovakia, but it was Pieter who dominated for much of it.

He looked on course for a famous victory, leading by two minutes at one point on the bike. But a thrilling finale saw him overtaken in the last 2km of the run thanks to a half marathon of 1:11:31 by Sebastian Kienle as he clocked a new record overall time.

Heermeryck stayed on well for second - 32 seconds behind Kienle and 28 seconds ahead of Rodolphe Von Berg.

He admits he probably spent too much time looking over his shoulder that day, but no wonder when you consider it was one of his triathlon idols who was now his big rival. Pieter says of Kienle: "I was inspired when I was younger by Sebi's racing style. I've always dreamed of beating him once, but it hasn't worked so far!

"I learnt a lot from it though and know now that I can do it."

A rare DNF followed at the 70.3 World Championship in Nice, but he bounced back strongly with two more Challenge 70.3 victories (Davos and Mallorca) to make it a landslide margin in the end-of-year bonus standings.

It had been quite a first year as a pro and 2020 started in solid style with a runner-up spot in IRONMAN 70.3 Dubai behind fellow Belgian Bart Aernouts.

Kona on the cards in the future

The future could hardly look brighter and Pieter is clear on his aims over the next few years, with a World Championship podium a big target.

The focus will remain at half-distance but with the addition of two or three full-distance events - hopefully including Kona!

And one massive benefit of being a full-time pro is that he gets to spend much more time with his family, especially his two young boys Quinn and Oliver.

Motivating children and giving them a passion for sport is something Pieter did every day as a teacher, and he hopes that will be something he can go back to in the future.

And with five brothers and four sisters of his own, family support isn't something he's short of as he continues to shine.

Current PTO World Ranking Points
7
PTO Asian Open 2023
96.83
Ironman Hamburg 2023
Best FD +5%
89.84
Ironman 70.3 Tallinn 2023
86.91
Sum / 3
91.19
Ranking History
#1#63#125#1872014201520162017201820192020202120222023*20242014Overall30.22 pts#201Swim79.36 pts#84Bike47.36 pts#201Run43.49 pts#2132015Overall42.71 pts#192Swim79.36 pts#127Bike51.73 pts#243Run44.87 pts#2442016Overall74.01 pts#66Swim82.67 pts#106Bike70.18 pts#121Run72.10 pts#922017Overall80.18 pts#50Swim83.82 pts#103Bike83.11 pts#62Run74.16 pts#852018Overall90.78 pts#21Swim86.84 pts#59Bike93.55 pts#18Run70.14 pts#1102019Overall95.14 pts#15Swim94.09 pts#32Bike98.43 pts#14Run75.48 pts#822020Overall90.75 pts#17Swim94.09 pts#26Bike91.94 pts#25Run79.27 pts#442021Overall61.62 pts#115Swim89.44 pts#45Bike83.71 pts#39Run69.33 pts#1312022Overall97.14 pts#18Swim92.17 pts#77Bike91.16 pts#32Run92.87 pts#302023Overall91.19 pts#5Swim79.55 pts#47Bike89.94 pts#9Run87.04 pts#132024Overall91.19 pts#7Swim79.55 pts#48Bike89.94 pts#8Run87.04 pts#14

* New PTO World Ranking System implemented.

Results
81 Races14
1
15
2
3
3
2024
Points: NaN
DatePlaceRace
Swim
Bike
Run
OverallSOFPoints
09 Mar
DNF
Miami T100
24:29
--:--
--:--
--:--
0
92.46-
2023
Points: NaN
DatePlaceRace
Swim
Bike
Run
OverallSOFPoints
21 Oct
1
Ironman Portugal
44:02
4:23:07
2:35:41
7:50:06
85.33
87.7185.33
17 Sep
1
Ironman 70.3 Knokke-Heist
20:12
2:01:49
1:11:37
3:39:45
79.5
74.2179.50
10 Sep
DNF
Ironman World Championships - Nice
49:10
5:06:22
--:--
--:--
0
91.52-
20 Aug
2
PTO Asian Open
26:09
1:50:03
1:04:18
3:22:46
96.83
92.0296.83
06 Aug
1
Ironman 70.3 Tallinn
23:15
1:58:00
1:12:42
3:36:55
86.91
78.9786.91
25 Jun
DNF
Challenge Roth
46:53
--:--
--:--
--:--
0
89.81-
04 Jun
2
Ironman Hamburg
46:43
4:00:24
2:37:36
7:31:00
85.56
83.8985.56
21 May
4
Challenge "The Championship" Samorin
22:46
1:55:32
1:10:55
3:33:28
82.67
86.0682.67
06 May
14
PTO European Open
23:53
1:53:18
1:02:16
3:21:31
80.71
90.7680.71
18 Mar
6
Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote
23:19
2:13:55
1:19:50
4:01:39
65.31
78.7565.31
2022
Points: NaN
DatePlaceRace
Swim
Bike
Run
OverallSOFPoints
09 Dec
7
Ironman 70.3 Bahrain
24:59
2:03:22
1:13:57
3:45:24
66.72
69.3766.72
20 Nov
DNF
Ironman Cozumel
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
78.49-
08 Oct
DNF
Ironman Hawaii
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
91.45-
18 Sep
8
PTO US Open
27:47
1:52:30
1:00:11
3:22:26
85.86
87.1785.86
20 Aug
2
Ironman Sweden
44:53
4:09:49
2:47:45
7:46:38
74.13
71.8774.13
24 Jul
6
PTO Canadian Open
26:47
1:44:30
1:02:30
3:15:23
87.35
84.8787.35
26 Jun
DNF
Ironman Frankfurt
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
73.81-
12 Jun
2
Challenge Geraardsbergen
22:40
2:15:25
1:14:48
3:55:58
67.99
56.5267.99
22 May
9
Challenge "The Championship" Samorin
24:25
2:01:56
1:18:19
3:49:41
68.64
76.2568.64
07 May
19
Ironman St. George World Championships
49:45
4:30:41
3:10:37
8:34:19
63.95
80.0963.95
03 Apr
DNF
Challenge Salou
13:45
1:57:43
--:--
--:--
71.17-
05 Mar
DNF
Ironman 70.3 Dubai
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
72.35-
2021
Points: NaN
DatePlaceRace
Swim
Bike
Run
OverallAITPoints
21 Nov
DNF
Ironman Cozumel
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
07:27:25-
05 Sep
19
Challenge Roth
47:34
3:57:09
3:33:27
8:20:47
13.6939
07:23:2313.69
15 Aug
4
Ironman Frankfurt
49:44
4:25:13
2:47:28
8:07:10
91.3828
08:00:5791.38
03 Jul
26
Ironman Lanzarote
50:20
6:02:52
3:27:50
10:28:06
0
08:28:08-
30 May
DNF
Challenge St Pölten
25:42
2:10:51
--:--
--:--
03:42:37-
09 May
29
Challenge Riccione
26:31
2:12:38
1:38:23
4:20:24
6.54115
03:48:236.54
24 Apr
DNF
Challenge Gran Canaria
21:50
2:05:39
--:--
--:--
03:37:28-
12 Mar
DNF
Ironman 70.3 Dubai
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
03:29:18-
2020
Points: NaN
DatePlaceRace
Swim
Bike
Run
OverallAITPoints
06 Dec
18
Challenge Daytona
24:01
1:41:08
1:03:37
3:10:44
79.7725
03:05:0779.77
06 Sep
3
Ironman 70.3 Les Sables D'Olonne
23:38
2:05:53
1:14:38
3:46:54
79.2992
03:40:0479.30
07 Feb
2
Ironman 70.3 Dubai
22:46
1:55:59
1:12:17
3:35:08
79.2299
03:28:3879.23
2019
Points: NaN
DatePlaceRace
Swim
Bike
Run
OverallAITPoints
24 Nov
DNF
Ironman Cozumel
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
07:40:45-
19 Oct
1
Challenge Peguera Mallorca
24:29
2:08:53
1:13:11
3:49:57
91.8317
03:47:1091.83
05 Oct
2
Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote
--:--
2:16:29
1:17:25
3:36:40
85.7532
03:32:0885.75
14 Sep
1
Challenge Davos
24:37
1:48:28
1:11:54
3:27:59
88.4786
03:24:2788.48
08 Sep
DNF
Ironman 70.3 World Championship
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
03:56:46-
27 Jul
2
Challenge Prague
--:--
--:--
--:--
3:57:36
72.4373
03:48:1072.44
23 Jun
DNF
Ironman 70.3 Elsinore
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
03:36:06-
15 Jun
1
Challenge Geraardsbergen
22:51
2:10:41
1:16:57
3:52:49
74.4809
03:44:1474.48
02 Jun
2
Challenge "The Championship" Samorin
23:50
1:56:01
1:14:37
3:39:21
91.9512
03:36:4491.95
27 Apr
1
Challenge Gran Canaria
--:--
--:--
--:--
4:00:44
74.4069
03:51:5074.41
07 Apr
1
Challenge Salou
23:08
2:07:33
1:12:44
3:46:40
83.73
03:41:1683.73
17 Mar
2
Ironman 70.3 Campeche
26:52
2:04:28
1:17:32
3:51:29
81.45
03:45:1381.45
2018
Points: NaN
DatePlaceRace
Swim
Bike
Run
OverallAITPoints
09 Dec
1
Challenge Daytona
20:28
1:20:39
44:52
2:27:45
17.6172
02:11:3017.62
28 Oct
1
Challenge Sardinia
15:33
2:16:06
1:14:10
3:47:44
87.9799
03:43:4287.98
16 Sep
2
Challenge Davos
24:13
1:54:48
1:20:12
3:41:50
76.1349
03:34:1076.13
02 Sep
5
Ironman 70.3 World Championship
22:23
2:04:15
1:13:00
3:43:06
101.639
03:43:39101.64
28 Jul
3
Challenge Prague
22:24
2:03:24
1:21:05
3:51:55
76.4385
03:44:0076.44
08 Jul
2
Ironman 70.3 Sweden
22:56
2:08:03
1:16:06
3:51:10
70.3815
03:41:2070.38
10 Jun
1
Challenge Geraardsbergen
--:--
--:--
--:--
3:51:17
81.9913
03:45:1281.99
03 Jun
4
Challenge "The Championship" Samorin
25:52
2:01:32
1:16:58
3:48:50
82.7144
03:43:0382.71
21 Apr
6
Challenge Gran Canaria
26:35
2:21:15
1:16:03
4:06:47
55.3218
03:51:1755.32
2017
Points: NaN
DatePlaceRace
Swim
Bike
Run
OverallAITPoints
25 Nov
6
Ironman 70.3 Bahrain
23:15
2:07:00
1:16:17
3:49:35
70.6432
03:39:5470.64
15 Oct
5
Challenge Peguera Mallorca
--:--
--:--
--:--
3:58:23
65.0749
03:46:3165.07
17 Sep
2
Challenge Davos
--:--
27:32
1:11:50
1:39:22
0
--
10 Sep
10
Ironman 70.3 World Championship
25:27
2:11:02
1:18:26
3:57:36
77.8712
03:49:5877.87
29 Jul
1
Challenge Prague
20:46
2:04:02
1:17:57
3:47:45
81.2404
03:41:3181.24
02 Jul
2
Challenge Geraardsbergen
--:--
--:--
--:--
3:58:43
63.5766
03:46:2163.58
18 Jun
4
Ironman 70.3 Elsinore
21:51
2:05:07
1:14:54
3:46:47
65.5279
03:35:3865.53
03 Jun
6
Challenge "The Championship" Samorin
23:00
2:05:40
1:18:45
3:52:17
72.2471
03:43:0072.25
13 May
DNF
Ironman 70.3 Mallorca
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
03:47:45-
22 Apr
2
Challenge Gran Canaria
25:22
2:31:50
1:14:11
4:11:23
63.5457
03:58:2163.55
2016
Points: NaN
DatePlaceRace
Swim
Bike
Run
OverallAITPoints
13 Nov
DNF
Ironman 70.3 Xiamen
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
03:47:00-
30 Oct
2
Challenge Sardinia
24:00
2:22:24
1:13:51
4:01:53
62.4427
03:48:5962.44
16 Oct
1
Challenge Peguera Mallorca
23:51
2:15:35
1:13:50
3:56:02
81.4197
03:49:3881.42
24 Sep
1
Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote
25:11
2:23:16
1:16:07
4:08:22
73.4375
03:58:5173.44
05 Jun
3
Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau
23:12
2:16:27
1:11:28
3:54:24
67.174
03:43:2467.17
01 May
16
Ironman 70.3 Pays d'Aix
--:--
2:26:27
1:14:35
3:42:55
0
--
02 Apr
19
Ironman 70.3 Oceanside
23:42
2:20:27
1:24:16
4:13:37
20.845
03:46:4220.84
2015
Points: NaN
DatePlaceRace
Swim
Bike
Run
OverallAITPoints
19 Sep
7
Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote
23:52
2:29:38
1:21:01
4:17:17
37.4572
03:55:1337.46
09 Aug
DNF
Ironman 70.3 Wiesbaden
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
03:56:43-
20 Jun
DNF
Ironman 70.3 Luxembourg
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
03:40:11-
05 Apr
25
Ironman 70.3 Brasilia
25:29
2:03:38
2:09:40
4:42:32
0
03:35:57-
2014
Points: NaN
DatePlaceRace
Swim
Bike
Run
OverallAITPoints
26 Oct
19
Ironman 70.3 Miami
25:47
2:08:34
1:39:37
4:16:30
0
03:37:27-
20 Sep
4
Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote
22:13
2:25:11
1:17:40
4:07:16
53.2088
03:51:0353.21
10 Aug
20
Ironman 70.3 Wiesbaden
22:02
2:28:08
1:34:38
4:28:28
0
03:52:16-
25 May
DNF
Ironman 70.3 Austria
--:--
--:--
--:--
--:--
03:42:21-
06 Apr
6
Ironman 70.3 Brasilia
25:13
2:06:53
1:20:12
3:55:42
37.4533
03:35:2937.45
Ranking per Season
Overall
Year
Points
Position
2024
91
7
2023
91
5
2022
97
18
2021
61
115
2020
90
17
2019
95
15
2018
90
21
2017
80
50
2016
74
66
2015
42
192
2014
30
201
Swim
Year
Points
Position
2024
79
48
2023
79
47
2022
92
77
2021
89
45
2020
94
26
2019
94
32
2018
86
59
2017
83
103
2016
82
106
2015
79
127
2014
79
84
Bike
Year
Points
Position
2024
89
8
2023
89
9
2022
91
32
2021
83
39
2020
91
25
2019
98
14
2018
93
18
2017
83
62
2016
70
121
2015
51
243
2014
47
201
Run
Year
Points
Position
2024
87
14
2023
87
13
2022
92
30
2021
69
131
2020
79
44
2019
75
82
2018
70
110
2017
74
85
2016
72
92
2015
44
244
2014
43
213
TEST