Whirlwind World Championships – Lawyer Landau & Triathletes from Around the World,

Checking out the Finish Line at the ITU Triathlon World Championships, in Wollongong, Australia (about an hour south of Sydney), Doug Landau tries to visualize the perfect race, just as he will visit the courthouse before trial and visualize the perfect trial.

What a year! Accolades for the Law Shop, wins in court and at the races. More importantly, we have been able to help clients and their families during some of the lowest moments in their lives. Sometimes I will ask them about the high points their lives, how they met their “true love” or some adventure they accomplished. In turn, they ask me about my adventures. And this year, my big adventure was competing in the Triathlon World Championships.

So, how did I get there? After starting to compete in triathlons while in law school at the University of Miami, I had overcome a non-existent swimming ability. Biking as a child to friends’ houses, tennis courts & paper route, I did not have a car until after grad school, so I walked, ran,

Riding his bike to visit friends, deliver newspapers as a youth and commute to work in college, Doug Landau never dreamed he would be pedaling fast & furious for TeamUSA in the Triathlon World Championships in Wollongong, Australia. Shown in front of athletes from South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, lawyer Landau rode his ITU Pinnarello carbon race bike in the Sprint Triathlon race.

took the trolley & biked to work during my tenure at Boston University, where I got serious about running. Then, at the University of Miami, I was able to up my run training with  the college track team (as I had only been with the B.U. team, running in events from the 600M-1600M, for my 2 years of undergraduate studies) & had 3 more years eligibility under NCAA rules. What’s more, in addition to training with some talented medical students who also had remaining eligibility, I was able to tag along with the Swiss Olympic Team’s middle distance squad, who were in Florida to train for the 1984 Games! That helped me get down to a 16:35 5km, 36:00 for 10km, & improve from 5:14 to 3:14 at the Orange Bowl Marathon.

Barely able to pass the swim test growing up, as he was a natural “sinker,” who would have thought that Doug Landau would some day be lining up to swim in a World Championship?

Then my bride and I moved back to Virginia, where a quartet of wonderful kids arrived in short order. I continued to train, race and in my late 30s, joined a Masters swim team & learned how to swim properly. My tenure with the brilliant Marc Stanley & Team Gold resulted in improved Multisport performance; competing in swim meets; team camaraderie & life-ling friendships. Coach Stanley made practices fun, and he even jumped into the pool with his clothes on to show my wife how to flip turn! He was definitely a “hands on” deck coach, who brought in Olympic swimmers like Inje DeBruijn to train with us; Stanford’s Brian Rutterer to help coach; Rock Santos & Summer Santos to give clinics & one of the first robust online platforms in the triathlon arena. Coach Marc Stanley was well before his time. I have been so fortunate to have had great, caring and knowledgeable coaches. During the COVID pandemic, USA Triathlon made top coaches available for TeamUSA members doing lock down. I was fortunate to be reunited with my friend and USAT’s Head of Coaching Education, Justin Trolle, who had actually seen me compete in a number of National Championship events; bunked with me at these venues; and had plotted out rating regimens for me in the past.

Parker Spencer, of TeamUSA’s “Project Podium” told lawyer Landau he got his start in Kinetic Multisport races! Project Podium is USA Triathlon’s elite athlete development program, in the hopes of getting on the podium at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles

I went to my first National Championships in the 1990s, and was nowhere near the “pointy end.” However, after several more years of consistent training & improved finishes at local races, I started finishing in the top 10 in my age group, especially in Sprint Distance races. By finishing near the top of my category, I started qualifying for the World Championships. The first ITU World Championship that my busy trial schedule allowed me to attend was in Adelaide, Australia in 2015. This was 10 years after my Maccabiah Games experience in the Israeli heat, where I was TeamUSA’s only Triathlon gold medalist and helped the team to a silver in the half marathon (my first ever competition at that distance!). At that time, I was concentrating on the Duathlon, a Run-

When your bride buys you Zipp race wheels with your name and profession on them, it makes it a wee bit easier to find your bike in the Transition area when there are 5,000 other ITU draft-legal bicycles in a huge field and the adrenaline and heart rate are running sky high! Lawyer Landau drops his bike off the day before the Sprint Triathlon World Championship race, where armed guards watched over these top shelf bikes, wheels, components and other equipment.

Bike-Run format that enabled me to avoid swimming, so that I could get on the bike with the leaders & then try to run them down in the second run. Continued consistent training and very frequent racing lead to more podiums in road races, Duathlons & Triathlons, and competition in a number of running and Multisport National Championships. I had won the USAT Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships in Sprint Triathlon and Sprint Duathlon for my age group, and was undefeated during 2020.

In Adelaide, I arrived only 4 days prior to the race, which is barely enough time to get acclimatized. In order to maximize my time before the race, I hired a local professional triathlete, Matty White, ( www.mattywhitetraining.com) to put me

Doug Landau was even filmed by this team mate during a TeamUSA bike course familiarization ride. We hope to upload video from the World Championships in Wollongong soon.

through my paces, help with my ITU legal rental bike mechanics (brakes are switched down under!), and do some “Recon rides” so that I got used to going on the “wrong” side of the road! Race day was exciting, but as had happened at several National Championship Duathlons, my high hamstring seized up in the second run, relegating me to 12th place. The rest of the trip was amazing, with visits to Ayers Rock, snorkeling for 3 days on the Great Barrier Reef, visiting an injured client (who went from World ranked athlete to Solicitor after we settled his sports injury case), and even further competitions! We found a 10km at the Sydney Olympic Stadium and a local swim-run event at a 50-meter salt water pool. The Aussies are mad for water sports.

The proximity to the top athletes in the world was one of the highlights of lawyer Landau’s trip to Australia. While getting ready for a morning “Recon Ride,” to familiarize himself with the technical aspects of the city course, Landau met Olympic gold medalist Cassandre Beaugrand, whom he had met when he competed in the Malibu, California sprint triathlon. Here, he is chatting up the French Olympians (L-R) Leonie Periault, Emma Lombardi (who both podiumed in the World Championships) and former World Champion Dorian Coninx. Landau serenaded the trio in his limited French; they did not request an encore!

Since my first World Championship experience in Adelaide, I competed at DUathlon Worlds in Penticton, Canada, and then again, during COVID, in Montreal at the Triathlon Worlds, where I passed lots of athletes running up the several stories of steps from the end of the swim to the parking deck T-1. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, I got into town the night before; never saw the race course; and was only in Canada 24 hours! Not an optimal race experience. I came down with COVID after a superb race the following Thursday night in Connecticut on a borrowed bike, and was out of commission for several weeks thereafter. I had qualified many more times for various ITU World Championships, but my trial schedule and family obligations took priority. Then, in 2024, I raced at the Sprint Triathlon Age Group National Championships (with several Team Gold Alumni!!!) in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Finishing 18th, I was not an automatic “top-10” selection. But I was notified months later that I had copped the last “roll down” spot for Worlds in Wollongong Australia! Reserving my spot, I planned my race season with that event as my “A Race.”

In the Winter of 2024-25, I had good warm weather training, including barefoot running, while visiting family in California and Florida. Once Triathlon Season began, I had won my age group in April in my first outing and was feeling like I was on track. However, while running in an off-road 5km with my son Easter Sunday, I broke my leg. I was in a cast for 6 weeks, also got COVID, again, and could not train properly until late June. My first venture out was the Challenging Litchfield Hills Aqua-Velo (Swim-Bike) race, where I ran out of gears 200M from the finish, & had to jog it in. Nevertheless, I managed to cop a podium spot. Racing Triathlons in July and August in Connecticut, New York, Virginia and Maryland, I won my age group 4 out of 5 times to cop a podium spot in the Kinetic Multisport Series. So, while not exactly at peak form, I felt strong enough to go to “the land down under.” Because of my post-injury race wins, I was also invited to be on one of the TeamUSA Mixed Team Relay teams. I had only raced in such an event once before, at the USAT Multisports Nationals in Omaha,Nebraska, where I ran the opening leg and our team had qualified for the World Championships.

Watching top triathletes, like Olympic medalist & T-100 race championship winner Hayden Wilde of New Zealand (on right) and Germany’s Mika Noodt (on left), go through their pre-race protocol at close range enabled Doug Landau to see how they prepare, the latest technology and get ideas to help his own transitions get even faster. Check out the equipment on these time trial style triathlon bikes! They are not legal for draft-legal ITU races.

Triathletes from around the world travelled to Wollongong, New South Wales, to compete against, and also watch the best in the sport, at the 2025 World Triathlon Championship Finals Wollongong (16–19 October), with TriathlonLive.tv, and Fox Sports delivering comprehensive live television coverage across all major race categories. This was because the ITU Age Group World Championships were to be contested over the same weekend as the T-100 pro races, the Olympic qualifying pro race and the Under-23, Junior, Mixed Team Relay and

Doug Landau was able to watch Hungarian teenage phenom Fanny Szalai race in the Mixed Team Relay and then talk and walk back to the athletes village with her. Lawyer Landau had seen this young superstar compete in the exciting, televised short course format Super Tri Series, as well is in other World Championship races.

other World Championship events. While in Australia, I was able to watch up close the Elite Men’s and Women’s, Juniors and under-23 events, as well as the T-100 races.

Unlike the last time I was racing in Australia, I made several changes to my preparations. In light of my fractured ankle 6 months earlier, I wanted to be smart and make the most of what endurance, speed, strength and experience I had accumulated. As had been the case in the US after I was allowed to resume running by my Orthopedic Surgeon, I wrapped my left ankle in Leuko Tape, which unlike an ace bandage, KT tape or while athletic tape, does NOT move. It feels like an external ligament, and keeps me from rolling my ankle out and re-injuring myself. For the World Championships, I was going to wrap BOTH ankles, in order to keep my =foot strike symmetrical and not injure myself due to a biomechanics imbalance at top speed.

There were other improvements to my 2015 preparations, First of all, I had spent a week in Los Angeles with family, so that the jet lag would not be so severe. I also had an ocean swimming session with friends to get used to the chop of the Aussie race venue’s bay. I worked on heat acclimatization, just as I had so successfully for competing in Israel, by overdressing during training bouts and conducting stretching sessions in the sauna. I brought my own ITU legal race bike; did several team recon rides on the actual course; jogged the run course and a did couple of course swims with team mates and on my own. I also watched the pros race on the same course, and notes how they swam in the currents, chop and glare.

Delighted to have been invited to join a mixed team relay, Doug Landau enjoyed getting to know the other members and racing against other teams from around the world in this super sprint triathlon format that has been so exciting at the Olympic Games

My first race, the Sprint Triathlon (Swim 750M, Bike 20km, Run 5km), my goal was top 10, but my slow swim and failure to jump on the peloton up the first hill, relegated me to second tier. I gave full value, but finished mid-pack. I know now to train this winter to jump my watts on the bike in order to stick to the peloton in draft-legal races in the future. After watching the best Multisport athletes in the world over the next 2 days, I competed as the anchor leg for our Mixed Team Relay (Swim 300M, Bike 7km, Run 1.47km). Unfortunately, when I got the handoff, I was one of the last athletes to run down the ramp and into the water. Since the race was so short, I did not pace myself and went “full gas” the whole time, finishing the whole super sprint distance triathlon in 29:05.

Being able to cross the finish line in front of the enthusiastic World Triathlon Championship Finals crowds was a wonderful experience. I hope to do this “double” again some day.  Other wonderful experiences this trip included feeding kangaroos and wallabies by hand; talking with Olympic triathletes and then seeing them compete; and cheering on friends in their races along Wollongong’s spectacular coastline. Since returning home, I have watched the television coverage whilst static bike training, as it inspires me to work harder and smarter.

Feeding (& running with) kangaroos and wallabies was something Doug Landau had always wanted to do. The sound of a herd of ‘roos bounding away is unlike the footsteps of any other animal lawyer Landau had ever heard.

The coverage not only celebrates world-class athletes, it also highlights the passion of the triathlon community and the beauty of Australian racing. It is a country, and a continent, that I would very much like to visit again. The people are friendly, laid back, speak English that is easier to understand that what I encountered in Scotland, and are enthusiastic supporters of Triathlon.

The 2025 World Triathlon Championship Finals Wollongong represented the pinnacle of the World Triathlon season, bringing together thousands of athletes from more than 70 nations to compete for world titles across Elite, U23, Junior, Para and Age-Group categories. The race week in NSW also featured the

Australian cities have 50 meter salt water pools where school children learn water safety and swimming skills. There are lots of pools along the coastline, where ocean waves can come crashing over the walls and into the pools, making for an almost open water experience, except for the lane lines & flip turns, of course!

T100 Triathlon World Tour, community participation event, and a vibrant Event Village celebrating sport, culture and local pride. When I was not racing, doing my recon, attending team meetings, eating or napping, I walked or biked the city to take in the sights. I enjoyed physio in the Expo area, and there were parades and celebrations attended by thousands of athletes, their supporters and spectators from around the world.

After Sunday’s race, I was back at Sydney International Airport Monday morning for a flight back to the USA. Landing at Los Angeles International Airport (“LAX”) the SAME DAY(!), I once again was able to spend time with my California grandchildren, work with my legal teams (on American time!) to prepare upcoming cases, and answer clients’ important questions. Because I lost more than a day getting to Australia, I was only there a week. So it truly was a whirlwind trip. My Virginia friends who went stayed for quite a bit longer, as is sensible. When I came to Australia last time, I did stay and travel for several weeks after the World Championships. I do not recommend going there for less than a few weeks, and most Aussies spend a month or more when coming to the US on holiday because of the 14 hour time difference. Having represented several Australians in their American personal injury cases, I can attest that communications can be complicated because of the different time zones. For a NSW octogenarian client injured in Washington, D.C., I would make calls from the closet of our home in the middle of the night, when she would be awake! And this was in the days before Zoom, Microsoft MeetUp or other remote internet communications.

Doug Landau and TeamUSA triathlete (and talented North Carolina multisport coach) Alex Kozlowski are all smiles after the Mixed Team Relay World Championship race, where they both completed the entire super sprint triathlon course in under a half hour!

After some 48 hours on the West Coast, I flew back to Virginia so as to be ready for my presentation the next week at the Richmond Convention Center, where I was a speaker on the annual Virginia Workers Compensation Educational Conference. My topic? How to win cases with the personal fitness technology that the majority of athletes at the World Championships use every day! The judges, lawyers, adjusters and claims administrators in the audience were unaware of all that could be done with the Garmin, FitBit, Woop, Apple Watch, and other personal tracking devices.

The jet lag did not hit me as hard as in 2015, as I slept most of the time while I was in the air, while also stretching and hydrating often. It took several days to unpack, re-assemble my race bike and get back to my usual regimen. I am grateful for my family, friends, law firm team and clients for making it possible for me to continue to compete at 65, represent the USA and have an adventure in Australia.

Thank you, one and all.