Maximilian Sperl

At a lean 6ft 3, the 27-year-old German towers over many of his rivals. Coached by Roland Knoll, he is part of the SC Delphin Ingolstadt triathlon club and since 2019 a core member of the highly successful EJOT Team TV Buschhütten racing alongside Super League favourites Jonas Schomberg and Justus Nieschlag.

This year Sperl again played a leading role for the Bundesliga outfit, helping them regain the league title earlier this month [September] and surge to victory in the Europe Triathlon Mixed Relay Club Championships in Banyoles in August, beating off some star-studded French, Portuguese and Spanish quartets in the process.

As a solo performer, Sperl has yet to realise his potential despite some encouraging performances. He finished ninth in a European Cup in Tartu in 2016 and placed 21^st in Antwerp on World Cup debut two years later.

While studying in the USA, he also grabbed a fourth place in Habana, Cuba and sixth in Clermont Florida at the start of 2018.

Often finishing as the leading German in races, Sperl was sixth in Constanta, Romania in 2019 before a couple of years disrupted by injury and illness.

He will be hoping Super League – where he replaces Portugal’s Joao Silva on the SLT Rhinos squad for the rest of the 2022 series – gives him a much-needed boost with the rat-a-tat style of racing that should suit his strengths.

Having completed his studies, Sperl is back in Germany and training with the national federation in Nuremberg and when not training for triathlon is always on the lookout for the perfect espresso.

His motto is “The one who makes the fewest mistakes wins!” With tight circuits, numerous hairpins and multiple transitions, it could hardly be more apt for Super League Triathlon.