Chelsea Sodaro made waves last year when seemingly against the odds, the American upset a number of established names and claimed the IRONMAN World Championship title in Kona with a breakthrough performance on the Big Island.

Up until that point, the PTO World #11 had never even won a full distance event and did so on her debut at perhaps one of the hardest races in the world, as she beat the likes of Lucy Charles-Barclay and Anne Haug by more than seven minutes.

In a recent podcast with Rich Roll, Sodaro shared how being able to go all in on professional triathlon has been a game changer, something that has only been possible thanks to the support of her coach and the team around her.

“We are on the razor edge of trying to achieve things”

Discussing the power of going in and turning against the conventional ideals of a balanced life, Sodaro shared the difficulty of foregoing traditional career paths and investing all of her energy into the pursuit of excellence in sport, something many people can’t understand.

“I struggle with all of these things [ideas of a balanced life] so much because the life my little family lives is so extreme, we are on the razor edge of trying to achieve things, but so much of it is who you surround yourself with and then accepting you as you are.

“We have felt from our parents, our families who love us, that it’s a totally different path that we have chosen and we are not risk averse, we are not afraid to make bold choices and go all in on these crazy dreams.

“I feel so lucky because there is no guarantee that it will all work out, but in so many ways that win in Kona last year validated all these crazy choices and that career path that I’ve been on.

“We have also been really lucky to have people in our lives like my coach Dan Plews who has championed this approach and allowed for us to go all in on it.”