Polish pro triathlete Robert Wilkowiecki has opened up on a “heartbreaking and enlightening” 12 months which ended with him undergoing major surgery.
The 30-year-old, who was forced to pull out of last year’s IRONMAN World Championship in Kona due to heart trouble, is now on the way back and has already pinpointed his comeback date.
Wilkowiecki is targeting the IRONMAN Texas North American Championship on April 26 as his big date with destiny, saying: “The first race of the year will be in Texas, so it is a classic start of the year.”
“It was literally heartbreaking for me”
Reflecting on a rollercoaster year when he was diagnosed with paroxysmal arrhythmia, Wilkowiecki admitted he feared he might drown during a dizzy spell at IRONMAN Frankfurt, and was later forced to withdraw from the World Championship in Kona.
In a new YouTube video, he said: “It was literally heartbreaking for me. At the beginning of the year I noticed some abnormalities in my heart rate in training. Initially we thought it was caused by heartrate monitor failure. We swapped brands. I used a lot of them. But the issue was happening more and more often. I was feeling dizzy. Like I could faint.
“The real turning point was IRONMAN Frankfurt. Before that we were unsure what was going on. Dur