Daniel Rowland: ÖTILLÖ Engadin - Switzerland - 2025

ÖTILLÖ Engadin is my favorite race. It is in Switzerland, it is in the mountains, the route suits me, and it feels like home. It also helps that I've had good races there in the past and that I know the route and area well (race reports from 2023 and 2024). This year I teamed up with Ben Thuismeyer for the first time and my first World Series Team race in Engadin.

The race started off at a super fast pace and Ben and let the other athletes go ahead and settled into a pace that would suit us. We were in fourth position after the first three swims, but we could see the second and third teams just ahead of us. On the first big climb we held our pace and effort and then on the first descent we caught those two teams and could see the leaders ahead of us.

For the next swim and run we were moving well and I thought we were swimming faster than the other two teams. I pushed the pace and Ben followed my initiative to try and make a gap before the 900m swim to Maloja. However, in the swim to Maloja the gaps remained the same and then we all regrouped on the next run, swam together, and started the next longer run in a group of three teams.

On the climb up from Maloja we moved ahead with Remi and David and left the team in fourth with an even bigger gap after the technical descent. From there, we worked with Remi and David to maintain the gap until the very last run where they pulled ahead and I wasn't strong enough to go with them (although Ben might have been). I think third place was fair for how we raced on the day and it was my fastest time on that route so I'm pleased. It was a pleasure to race with Ben and I think we worked really well together.

Next month we're racing Aland and we've got a few more aggressive tactics and plans so hopefully we can do another solid performance.

As always, Engadin was amazing and I look forward to racing there again!