Jonathan Nguyen looking to set personal best at Triathlon Nationals

Jonathan Nguyen is looking to beat his personal best when he represents Adelaide University in the UniSport Triathlon Nationals, run as part of the Peoplecare Triathlon Wollongong this Sunday 19 April in Wollongong, New South Wales. The Triathlon Nationals kicks off UniSport's 2026 campaign, and Nguyen has the honour of being Adelaide University's first national Intervarsity athlete.

Adelaide University student Nguyen, who is in the second year of a Bachelor of Business degree, has been racing competitively and achieving excellent results over the last two years. At the same event in 2025, he finished 29th overall out of 483 finishers in the Sprint distance.

"UniSport Nationals last year was a really fun experience," he says. "Getting to race with students from all over the country, also doing the Sprint distance, for me that was a good mix up as I'm usually focused on the middle to long course."

Long distance was the name of the game recently when Nguyen participated in his first Ironman competition, the Ironman New Zealand on Saturday 6 March in Taupō, New Zealand. A gruelling 10+ hour event, the Ironman challenged competitors with a 3.8km swim, 180km bike, and 42.2km run over the course of a single day. Nguyen saw his first Ironman as more of a challenge than a race, aiming to finish the distance and reach times he had set for himself.

At the end of 2025, Nguyen experienced illness and injury, including an accident in which he was hit by a car which wrote off his bike. "For a long time I was scared on my bike, and angry at others who weren't making the best decisions on-road," he says. "I think the most important thing for me to overcome these issues was just getting out there again and not letting events out of my control affect how I approached racing and training."

The training and recovery has led Nguyen to this year's UniSport Triathlon Nationals where he will represent Adelaide University in the Standard distance, a longer discipline than the Sprint distance in which he competed in 2025.

"The Standard or Olympic distance is double a Sprint race. Training isn't drastically different, but in comparison to training for the long course the Sprint has more speed sessions and removes some of the zone or endurance work."

Reflecting on his favourite part of a triathlon, Nguyen says it depends on his body and the course, leaning towards the bike and run. "I love cycling and I think I'm pretty strong at it, but then sometimes I have a really good run and I feel great."

The biggest challenge? "I absolutely hate swimming training, and being attacked by a shark is my biggest fear. Getting touched by any sea life when in the ocean is terrifying. I just have to remember that if I train hard, there will always be a slower swimmer than me," he jokes.

"I'd love to come away with the win," he says about his goal for this year's event. "I recently raced in the T100 World Cup Olympic distance on the Gold Coast where I came fourth in my age group and 13th overall. That was a personal best for me, so the goal here is to beat it. It's a fast course in Wollongong, so it should be within reach."

We wish Jonathan all the best this weekend representing Adelaide University at UniSport Triathlon Nationals!