British IRONMAN champion rules himself OUT of Kona after rocky start to the season

After a challenging start to the season, a tough day out at IRONMAN Lake Placid has forced Joe Skipper to rule himself out of chasing qualification to the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona.

The Norfolk native, who was a pre-season favourite for the IRONMAN Pro Series in 2024, has been unable to rediscover the form that saw him finish fifth in Kona and win two titles in 2022.

Sharing his decision on Instagram, the 36-year-old admitted that the latest setback was a bitter pill to swallow, but that he was excited to return to racing once he figures things out.

Training not translating to racing

Despite racing six times already this season, the PTO World #95 has struggled to nail things on the day, with Lake Placid on Sunday another instance of things just not going his way.

“Unfortunately I felt very flat and not myself in Lake Placid. I just didn’t really have anything and my legs felt terrible. Honestly I’m absolutely gutted and just really down. I was looking forward to this race and my training had gone really well so I was very confident of putting together a great race.” 

As the defending champion, the result will sting even more, and marks the second full distance race Skipper has withdrawn from in 2024, after also pulling out of IRONMAN Texas in April.

Finding the root cause

With training going well and a strong sixth place finish at IRONMAN Cairns in June testament to his lasting ability, Skipper said he will now undergo some medical tests, to rule out any underlying issues that could be hampering his racing.

“I will be taking some time off now, I’m going to get some blood tests done to see if there’s anything up with me as I’ve been so inconsistent in races and rarely feel like my normal self in races.

“I don’t know when I will race again as I’m going to just concentrate on feeling better and when I am confident I can race like myself I’ll be back on a start line.

“As you can probably gather this means no Kona but to be honest that’s probably a good thing as I can just take my time to get myself back firing on all cylinders and not force it. 

“Thanks to everyone for all the support it means the world, next time I’m on a start line I hope to do all the support justice!”