Not one to rest on her laurels after defeating Daniela Ryf at IRONMAN 70.3 Dubai, German star Laura Philipp is already eyeing up further battles with her Swiss adversary.

Philipp, who bested the five-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Ryf by three minutes 52 seconds, highlighted the opportunity to race such high quality opposition as a motivator going forward.

“Thank you Daniela for the amazing battle,” she iterated in a video posted on the Professional Triathletes Association (PTO) social channels.

“It was just so much fun to have a strong battle with someone who really puts you under pressure – Daniela is such a strong super women, and I just felt honoured to give her some company.

St George moving into focus

“I am sure we will see many more races like this this year. Good competition means fast times and I think we had some kind of first taste here in Dubai and hopefully there will be more races like this.”

The 34-year-old admitted prior to the race that the main goal was to test her equipment and to see where her form was ahead of the IRONMAN World Championship on May 7 at St George in May.

“I came to Dubai to test my material, my form, my legs, my head – and that’s really what I got,” she said.

“This was definitely one of my strongest performances ever, I’m super proud, super happy.”