4-time Duathlon World Champion
Anyone have any more info on him?
I just watchet the race on TV (live in Belgium)
He is the eddy merckx of duathlon!!!
Great performance off the belgium team overall.
But like we call him: Unbeatable Benny
more info of the WK you can find on: http://www.wkduathlon2004.be/
more info on Benny on his personal site:
http://www.arinso-biktriathlonteam.com/en/about/vansteelant/vansteelant_personal_data.asp
He is a teamate of Rutger Beke
Also watch out for his younger brother: also world champion!!
Psssh:
2001:
- 1st ITU Powerman Tennessee USA
- 1st ITU Powerman Geel BEL
- 1st ITU Powerman Trier GER
- 1st ITU Powerman Weyer AUT
- 1st ETU duathlon Stein NL
- 1st European Championship duathlon Mafra POR
- 1st ETU duathlon Beersel BEL
- 1st World Championship duathlon (long) Venray NL
- 1st WK duathlon (short) Rimini ITA
- 1st ITU Powerman Komatsu JAP
2002:
- 1st Dannon duathlon Grenlefe USA
- 1st ITU Powerman Venray NL
- 1st ITU Powerman Geel BEL
- 1st Belgian Championship duathlon Leuven BEL
- 1st European Championship duathlon Zeitz GER
2003:
- 1st Powerman UK Ashbourne UK
- 1st Powerman Holland Venray NL
- 1st Powerman Vlaanderen Geel BEL
- 1st Powerman Germany Zeitz GER
- 1st Powerman Italy Parma ITA
- 1st Belgian Championship Duathlon Halle BEL
- 1st World Championship Duathlon (Short) Affoltern SUI
- 2nd World Championship Duathlon (Long) Zofingen SUI
- 1st Powerman Malaysia Kuala Lumpur MAL
.
I do… I wasn’t replying to your post I was posting his results in general…
benny V. might be the fastest runner and biker in the sport right now, duathlete or triathlete. At 2002 worlds several ITU triathletes were there and got smoked on the run.
Francois,
You are a DATA animal! 
What’s your secret?
My bet is you have this very-very common endless memory for numbers… 
- ok, maybe some DBs on your PC as well.
“dude’s a freak.”
Amazing record. But can he swim?
"
I heard he’s so fast, he just runs on top of the water all the way to the first turn in the swim! Almost as good as the “Red Sea Pedestrians” (with credit to Monty Python)!
He is a freak of nature, and hard work.
"who cares… "
I’d suspect any top pro triathlete. If he can swim like he bikes/runs he’d have to be a major threat.
LOL
CV does make a point, duathlon is a small, but physically more demanding sport than triathlon. BV can have more World Championships to his name than every living triathlete, active or retired, and is still an unknown in the US.
It’s a shame that people haven’t seen him race. He makes running look as easy as walking down the street.
If he did swim he would have about 6 ITU triathlon world titles to his name by now, in addition to the 4 he has
“duathlon is a small, but physically more demanding sport than triathlon.”
That is so true. Especially for us non runners.
We have a friend that was a top AG world quality duathlete. He can bike/run amazing but only learned to swim a couple of years ago. He’s going to LP IM this summer. His bike and run are top AG quality but his swim will put him AG MOP.
Duathlon just isn’t as marketable as triathlon.
I agree the guy is an amazing athlete but I think Du-athlon is a second tier sport contested by guys who couldnt learn to swim well enough to compete in triathlon. Do you think if Benny could swim at all he would be racing the duathlon circuit? Is there any money to be made there? Being the fastest duathlete in the world is the equivalent to being the fastset Back-breast-freestyle medley swimmer in the world. Will that become an event? Or how about a decathlon for guys who cant master the throwing events. Is that a sport? Or maybe its like street hockey. You can be the greatest street hockey player in the world, Wayne Gretzky in sneakers, but if you cant skate you will never make the big time and no one is going to compare you to an NHL all-star. Saying that Benny can outrun and ride any pro triathlete means nothing. Benny should be faster than any pro triathlete on the run and bike. He can spend 33% more time training for them and doesnt have to carry any upper body mass. Taking the argument to the next level, there are probably 300 Kenyons who could smoke Benny in a 10k run and a hundred cyclists that could crush him in a 40k TT. Does that mean anything? They are not competing in his sport just as he is not competing in triathlon.
I actually used to race elite as a triathlete. 1:54 non drafting pb, but I don’t feel like swimming anymore.
I’mjust saying the guy is a phenom runner and cyclist.
He was also offered a pro cycling contract 2 yrs ago BTW
he ran an open 10 mile race in 48:05 (that is 4:48 per mile) I once noticed on the web. Uncomprehensible for an accomplished biker. 99.9999% of the “running only world” would not ever run that fast training 100% for the run. I don’t know how fast he bikes, posters on here say fast . . . all I know is that people who run in the 47-48 min range are often running the marathon in the 2:10 range. Hell, he could backfloat the swim, ride a reasonable ride and run down anyone in the world - period. If I were as fast as him, why would I want to waste my time with a sport that only allows me to run once (tri) when I could compete in a sport where I get to run twice (du)? Screw that, if I were that fast on the run, why would I even want to mess with a sport that had a bike or a swim for that matter?
Paul,
I think you need a little help here, you seem a bit misguided.
<< but I think Du-athlon is a second tier sport
true, but it is spelt Duathlon.
<< contested by guys who couldnt learn to swim well enough to compete in triathlon.
Duathlon is a sport that is contested by triathletes and duathletes alike. Look at the past winners of Duathlon worlds, there are a couple of triathletes in there as well, Norman Stadler, Greg Welch, Andrew Noble, Oscar Galindez.
<< Do you think if Benny could swim at all he would be racing the duathlon circuit? Is there any money to be made there?
you’re overlooking one major point. Maybe he loves the sport of Duathlon and doesn’t want to do triathlons!?!? He is a world class runner and has previously qualified for the Belgium National team in running and is a world class cyclist. But overall, he chooses to compete primarily in Duathlons. I learned to swim, not great, but fair, low 21’s for a 1500, but given the choice, I prefer to race duathlons. Not because of money or anything else like that. That choice is because that is the sport that I love. For a guy like Benny, there is money to be made in Duathlon, he does very well for himself financially.
He just doesnt like swimming!!!
Running and biking you can do it outdoor, you see something
the only thing you see swimming is the floor of the pool, so borring!!
This are his words, not mine i like swimming
Benny lives also most of the year in Font Romeu
Actually he out-biked him, didn´t he? (Benny had the fastest second run, going into the lead, but Stefan fought back and won.)
Axel
It’s funny back in the early days, I think that there were more than a few who thought that duathlon would really take off - that it would become bigger than triathlon. Afterall, the most common objection or fear for non-triathletes is the swimming. The biggest logistical head-ache for RD’s is finding a decent area to swim that is near good roads. However, this never happened and triathlon is by far the popular multisport activity. Duathlon has it’s place, but for the most part it is looked at by most triathletes as something to do in the shoulder seasons when the water is too cold for swimming - not something that they would specifically focus on.