By her own admission, this wasn’t the kind of day that defending champion Laura Philipp had been dreaming of, as the German superstar relinquished her crown in what she herself described as a ‘crazy’ race in Kona.
Well adrift from the leaders after a disappointing ride on the bike, it took every ounce of her determination, focus and energy to kick on with a marathon performance which would eventually, once again, see her climb the podium at a world championships.
While naturally disappointed not to have followed up her win at Nice last year with another victory, Philipp was rightly proud of just how deep she had dug within herself to keep on going as the energy-sapping Kona conditions took their toll on those around her.
Test on how tough you are
“It was a tough day for me, and not the day I was dreaming about,” she said. “But I think it’s a good test on how tough you are, and if you can keep on going even when your dreams are fading away. I think that is what I’m proud of. I just had to focus on myself. I really wanted to have no regrets. I really wanted to try to get close to the front, and so what I’m proud of is that I don’t have any regrets. I gave everything I had.
“I really enjoyed the swim. I think it was actually fun, and I thought, ‘this is like a really cool start to the day’. I had good company for the bike ride, and was in good spirits,” she said. “But the bike was crazy in a way because I thought we were riding okay, but then we were getting splits to the front, which were just getting bigger and bigger, which was a tough pill to swallow.
“It seemed like the gap was getting to a size where you realise it will be really tough to try and go for the win or even the podium. I got tested once again from the competitors and from the island, and I’m proud to sit up here on a day where it didn’t feel really magical.”
Having once again found herself running with rival Kat Matthews in the marathon section, Philipp admitted she was struggling to keep up with the pace and ended up dropping back, thinking her dreams of a podium place were done and dusted.
Kona plays its hand
But Kona clearly had a few tricks left to play, and to her surprise, the German suddenly found herself in contention once again.
With Lucy Charles-Barclay and Taylor Knibb falling victim to the brutal conditions, the path to another podium finish opened up before her, not that she was able to understand exactly what was happening as the news was relayed to her.
“On the run, it continued to be super crazy to get information from the outside, like, this happened, this happened. And I was like, ‘Oh my God’. So I don’t even know what place I am anymore,” she said. “It had already been tough on the bike, and then the run was pretty much a struggle from the beginning, and that’s also tough; looking at your watch and you don’t see the splits that you were hoping for.
“I was on the highway again after the Energy Lab when people started to tell me, ‘now you’re in fourth, now you’re in third’. And I was like, yeah, but I didn’t overtake anyone, so what is going on? It was crazy to imagine, because I didn’t know if they had bombed or collapsed or whatever happened, so I guess it must have been a really exciting race to watch.
“I’m just proud that I continued and that my body held together and that I didn’t collapse somewhere on the highway. I feel really sorry for Lucy and Taylor. That’s not the way that you want to get a spot on the podium, when someone has pulled out or has a bad day, but I suppose that’s also racing, and part of racing is to pace yourself well, and I think that’s what I did. I really listened to my body, and I was able to just keep going.”
Are we in a triathlon boom, or hurtling towards burnout? Laura Siddall on the growth of the sport
