On the surface, 2024 was an exceptional year for US triathlon superstar Taylor Knibb.
The 27-year-old was sensational over the middle-distance, winning all six of her races in that category – extending her unbeaten run in the discipline to 10 races. A T100 World Triathlon title was coupled with a third consecutive IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.
However, her Paris Olympic Games campaign didn’t go to plan. Competing in a trio of events – the road cycling time trial, individual triathlon and mixed-relay triathlon – Knibb came away with a silver medal in her name for Team USA in the relay.
And she admitted, on the latest Chasing The Burn podcast, that the 2024 season took its toll.
Limited joy after IM 70.3 Worlds
The triathlon star ended the season by winning her third 70.3 world title in as many years, but was not feeling jovial after the race.
She explained on the podcast: “So after T100 Dubai, I crossed the finish line and I won the T100 Series and my coach Dan (Lorang) was like congratulations on a great season, it’s great you’re finally in the off season and I was like, wait a second, I have another race.
“So we talked about that and whether to go, because I think the amount of time I had been going for was a while for the body, mind and everything.
“After the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, this is going to sound awful, I was not in a good mood, I was not happy.
“Maybe an hour after, I got some treatment from one of my team and he’s like ‘Taylor, you just won the race today, like try to be happy.’ For me it was more just like the whole year was a lot I think, so there was a lot of exhaustion.”
2024 takes its toll
With such an exhaustive amount of racing in 2024, Knibb sought counseling from her psychologist following her exploits last term.
“I actually spoke to my psychologist this week about this, and I said I feel like I left a piece of my soul in 2024, and she was like that’s very specific – it’s not like your heart, it’s your soul – and she asked what it would look like not to leave a piece of my soul in 2025 and I was like ‘I have no idea’.
“But I really think I left a piece of my soul in 2024. I can say that, and I feel that, but I don’t actually know what that means, but that’s how it felt. Like, you pour a lot into it – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, however you want to phrase it.”
Paris disappointment
Knibb opened her 2024 Paris Olympic Games competing in the Individual Cycling Time Trial with the US triathlon phenom crashing on three separate occasions, damaging her bike on the slippery roads of the French capital.
Her 19th-place performance was coupled with an identical finishing position in the individual triathlon race – again in wet conditions – before the American secured her second Olympics silver medal in the mixed-relay, having previously finished runner up in Tokyo with Team USA.
“As much as the Paris Games hurt, and as hard as it is, and as much as it will wreck you, like that’s the only way to do it, that’s the price you pay in sport – everyone who does well or not, you are rolling the dice because it can go either way.
“Am I at peace with the Olympics? I think I am probably – when you pour yourself into something like that like I did, and when you have that disappointment – I think in Tokyo I kind of denied it and moved on, I’ll just pour myself into racing.
“In one way you can say I used the exact same strategy (after Paris), like yes and no, I did race but I also knew that regardless of what I achieved it didn’t change Paris.
“People are like you still got a medal, and it’s like yeah, you celebrate that, but you also don’t brush aside any grief or disappointment, like you deal with the emotions, feel them, understand them and accept them.
“I feel like I did the best with what I knew at the time, and you can say there were errors, like I’m not the best bike handler, I’m not the best in the rain, but that’s life.”
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