Rosberg follows Button’s triathlon example

Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg is the latest Formula One driver to catch the triathlon bug. Following the Jenson Button’s recent outing in the London event, Rosberg was in action in the Kitzbuehel, Austria, over the weekend.

In what was his first Olympic-distance triathlon, Rosberg recorded a highly-respectable time of 2h07m23s, which put him 44th overall and 14th in his age group. It compared with Button’s London time of 2h14m14s, though the McLaren driver was recovering from a bout of the tonsillitis.

The Olympic triathlon is considered one of the toughest tests of the sporting endurance and comprises a 1500m swim, followed by a 40km bike ride and a 10km run. The transitions between each stage also form part of the race.

Rosberg completed the swim in 24m43s, the bike ride in 1h02m47s and the run in 36m58s. He admitted the last half of the run was particularly tough, but afterwards described triathlon as his ‘new passion’.