Having already given a glimpse of her undoubted talents, Danish youngster Laura Madsen is determined to one day break free of her underdog tag and take her place on a T100 podium.
Handed a ‘Hotshot’ contract for the World Triathlon Series, the 22-year-old admits every race presents her with a steep learning curve as she seeks to learn the skills which will enable her to succeed at the highest level.
Talking on the latest episode of the ‘Dare to Dream’ series, Madsen reveals how competing against the likes of such superstars as Taylor Knibb, Ashleigh Gentle, and Julie Derron is only making her more determined to succeed.
One of eight new tales screened via the World Triathlon YouTube and TriathlonLive.tv platforms, the latest episode (which is embedded below) charts what has been a tough season for the Dane, as she is forced to battle back from a fractured sacrum to line up at London’s T100 earlier this month.
Hype and promise
Titled ‘The Underdog’, it provides a fascinating first-hand look into the career of a young athlete determined to live up to the hype and promise that has been evident in her early years – and the media glare that brings with it.
“It’s a bit unreal to be able to already perform at a top level in this sport,” she says. “Three years ago, I would have never imagined to be one of the wildcards and now a hot shot in the World Tour.
“It’s no secret that I’m from an extremely small town. I’ve always been private, and I have my inner circle of people. So to suddenly be on television and being in the spotlight, so to say, has been difficult.
“The ‘hot shot’ contract that I have this year is given to athletes who they think can spice up the race a bit. I take it as a big compliment that people believe ‘she can perform at the very top level’ without having proven it that much before.
“Racing all of the T100 last year (as a wildcard), I got a lot of lessons learned from these races. It’s impressive to witness these amazing performances from Taylor Knibb, Ash Gentle, Julie Derron; that’s amazing, and something that inspires me a lot.”
Seen talking with her partner and fellow triathlete Thor Bendix Madsen, the episode also features heavily on her relationship with father and coach Jesper Madsen, who was himself an age-group racer in his younger years.
“The fact that my father is also my coach is probably the most ideal thing, because I’m a person who… I really need to be around people I feel extremely comfortable with, that I feel safe with and feel like, okay, I know you extremely well, and I know that you know me as well, and I think that my parents are the people that know me the best,” she says. “Many people would probably say, okay, but how do you deal with being both a father and a coach? And honestly, for us, it’s never been a problem, and I can’t really see why it should be a problem.”
And it is that relationship which helped her to not only come through her recent injury concerns, but also to then have the confidence to return to competitive triathlon with a storming performance in London.
Feeling the nerves
“I woke up on race day morning and went to breakfast with my father, and actually I was pretty quiet and he asked me ‘what is wrong?’, and I said to him ‘there is a risk of me getting out of the water last today’, she said. “And I was thinking, ‘I don’t want to be last out of the water’. I just didn’t have that much confidence when I woke up.
“Pretty quickly, I kind of got it shifted in my head and had more like the thought of, ‘okay, you have basically nothing to lose. You have everything to win today’.
“Just before the race… I was thinking to myself, why the hell did I sign up for this? Which is something I’m always thinking right before a race, I’m like, ‘okay, why do I do this to myself?!’.
“You’re just standing on that pontoon and you’re now in the hands of the starter… And suddenly just BOOM! Like all of the nerves suddenly go away, and the gun goes off. It’s like now there are no nerves anymore. It’s just race mode on!”
Her fears of a poor race were to prove unfounded as the impressive youngster swam well, biked brilliantly and then held it together with the run to finish just outside the top ten.
From where she was in February when she first suffered the sacrum injury, an 11th-place finish in London was beyond her wildest dreams, and, she hopes, another step on the road to a T100 podium finish.
“Running down the carpet and knowing that I would finish 11th was really nice. When I crossed that line, I was just extremely relieved that I had finished the race,” she says. “For me, racing these T100 races is extremely overwhelming. And sometimes I’ve questioned if I am even good enough to be here.
“I think this injury has kind of taught me that, ‘okay, Laura, you’re still quite young. You really just have to enjoy the process’. I went directly to my father, and he said to me that I had done well and that he was extremely proud of the way I raced the race. At that moment, he is probably just talking as a father. Making sure that I know that he’s proud of me.
“Right now, I’m definitely the underdog. No one would expect me to be in the top five, or go on the podium or something. But I hope that one day, maybe not this year, maybe not next year, but in some years that, okay, I won’t be the underdog anymore.”
You can watch the full episode below.
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