Europe Triathlon

At the recent ETU Congress in Athlone, Ireland, a new President of the European Triathlon Union (ETU) was elected.  Philip E.C. Schädler of Liechtenstein ran unopposed and became the new President of the ETU.

“It is a great honour to become the President of the European Triathlon Union.  For many years I have been working in a number of executive roles within the organisation, however, this move had not been anticipated.  With the sudden death of our former President, Emilio di Toro, there was a gap to fill and a quick decision to make, almost too quick, and at the same time we were all digesting the passing away of a good friend,” said Philip in his new role as President.  Looking towards a positive future, Philip went on to explain “With my experience and background I felt obliged to step in and continue the way the whole Executive Board had began in the summer of 2009”.

What are your thoughts on the growing popularity of Triathlon?

It’s great to see that still after so many years when the sport took off in the early 80s that new people, young and old, join our sport and are enthralled by it. When I did my first triathlon in 1985 I was totally fascinated by it and was proud of having accomplished a race with 3 different disciplines. I am still racing today and enjoy every finish. It is very good to see that triathlon is more and more perceived as a fun sport and not as a suffering sport where people are crawling over the finish line. Triathlon is not just a physical exercise but part of a certain modern lifestyle.

How do you plan to promote and develop Triathlon across Europe?

The European Triathlon Union is above all responsible for the European Championships and European Cup races in multisport disciplines like triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and winter triathlon. Therefore we have to ensure that these races are kept on a high level as a showroom for our sport in Europe. On the other hand we have to develop many areas of the sport like the training of technical staff, event organisation, communication, new race formats, governance, sport promotion etc. We have set up a strategy and development plan recently and are currently working to set up different development projects all over Europe.

What is your vision for the future of the European Triathlon Union?

It is important that the ETU is adding value to the affiliated National Federations. This we want to achieve with top organised races, very good development programs in place and an efficient, transparent and united organisation that makes everybody proud to be part of it.

A brief background to Philip E.C. Schädler, President of the European Triathlon Union:

Philip E.C. Schädler was born 1961 in Vaduz, Principality of Liechtenstein and has a Masters degree in political science from the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). He has worked with and for renowned financial institutions before he acquired a licence as an investment and insurance broker. Since 2007 Philip has worked as an investment consultant and graduated in 2009 with an EMBA in Wealth Management.

In terms of Philip’s sports career, he started in endurance sports in the age of 16 as a runner, first in short and middle distances and half marathon (pb:1h15min). In 1985 he started with triathlon and since then finished over 100 elite and age group races including 4 Ironman finish and winter triathlon. Philip is very proud of being a national champion in triathlon and duathlon, having finished the Trans Swiss Triathlon in 16.5 hours and winning three age group medals in European and World Championships.

We wish Philip a successful and rewarding future in his new role as ETU President.