Former IRONMAN World Champion Laura Philipp has suffered a worrying health setback in preparations for her opening race of the 2026 season after being admitted to hospital with ‘very strong’ stomach and back pain.
The 39-year-old German was busy putting the final touches to her training for the IRONMAN 70.3 at Aix-en-Provence on May 17, when she was forced to stop and rest.
Philipp has yet to race this year and was planning to follow her trip to France with a start at IRONMAN Hamburg, where she came so close to setting a new world record time last season in an epic duel with Britain’s Kat Matthews.
‘Not a bad hospital view’
Posting an image of herself lying on a hospital bed surrounded by mountains, with the line ‘Not a bad hospital view’, the 2024 world champion allays serious fears by confirming she is starting to feel better and even managed a little humour, insisting the pain was not due to her eating too much cake on her birthday last week.
“Not a bad hospital view, eh? 🏥🏔️,” she posted. “Instead of kicking off my new year with lots of training in the beautiful mountains as planned, some very strong stomach and back pain forced me to spend the last few days in the hospital.
“I’m slowly feeling better, can eat and drink again and hope to get back to my old strength soon. 🤞🏼 And pls don’t worry: I can confirm it wasn’t because of too much birthday cake! 🙃 [Unfortunately]
“Aaand also a bit late for the above reason: a huge thank you to everyone who reached out to me, wishing me a happy birthday. 🤍🎂 Hope my new year will continue with a little bit less drama from now on😅💪🏻…”
Yet to race in 2026
Philipp only raced four times last season but still won three times – at the 70.3 in Kraichgau, IRONMAN Hamburg and Challenge Roth – before finishing third at the World Championships in Kona.
A similar programme has been designed for 2026, but with Kraichgau replaced by Aix-en-Provence before her German double header at Hamburg and Roth once again.
The race in Hamburg last year resulted in a truly epic battle with Kat Matthews as they pushed each other to the line at near-world-record pace, with Philipp clocking 8:03:13 and Matthews 8:05:13.
Whether this recent health scare will be enough to change her plans for Aix-en-Provence remains to be seen, but it is certainly hoped that she can maintain her swift recovery and get back where she belongs… on the race start line.
