ROM AKERSON, XTERRA WORLD CHAMPION 2018, IN 15 PHRASES
We interviewed the Costa Rican triathlete Rom Akerson, Xterra World Champion 2018, at our headquarters.
The words that Rom Akerson uses most often in this interview are “focus” and “positive”. We have summarised the long interview in 15 sentences that shed some light on this modest fighter, who believes that sport has made him a better person.
The Costa Rican triathlete Rom Akerson gave Costa Rica its first Xterra World Championship in Maui, Hawaii. Rom Akerson of the Coopenae team, completed the race in a time of 2 hours, 52 minutes and 48 seconds. The course of the Xterra World Championship involved 1.5 km of swimming, 32 km of cycling and 10.5 km of athletics.
We would like to highlight these 15 phrases from our long interview with Rom Akerson:
1. “Winning the Xterra World Championship has been a dream come true”
2. “Winning the Xterra World Championship took away a level of pressure, a level of stress. It’s like taking a load off your mind”
3. “I’ve dedicated more than half of my life to sport to try and achieve this dream”
4. “It’s like giving something back, not only for me but for the entire country of Costa Rica”
5. “There’s a saying that Costa Rica is a small country but it has a big heart”
6. “There comes a point in your professional sporting life when you have to focus to achieve a victory. I started out as an athlete. I did everything, then I started doing all kinds of triathlon, and then Xterra in particular.”
7. “I’m a good cross-country athlete, I can do Mountain Bike, I can run cross-country, and I’m not the best swimmer, but I’m good enough to get out there and fight to win races.”
8. “You get a lot from sport – it’s not only important to cross the finish line first, but also the whole process involves training, dedication, being loyal and being a fighter, because you don’t start winning from one day to the next. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I’m still here fighting. It’s a way of life”
9. “I want to defend the title again this year. When I ran in 2018, the race ended and I asked myself why I was going to carry on training. Well, I did… Now what’s next?”
10. “You have to have a reason, you have to have something personal that motivates you”
11. “You have to see the positive side of every situation. If you’re only going to see the negative side you’ll only experience negative things”
12. “I’m very much inspired by my dad. He’s done a lot of ironman events, marathons and barefoot races. He was the one who got me involved in sport. He’s someone I admire very much.”
13. “Triathlon outfits are very important for feeling comfortable mentally. We spend many hours training, and a good outfit makes us feel good.”
14. “The Inverse triathlon and cycling outfits are very impressive. I feel very good when I train and compete in them”
15. “In this life, there’s a positive and a negative side. We choose which side we focus our energy on. I always go with the positive side, having a smile for every situation.”
