Laura Philipp suffered a collapse after her third place at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. The 36-year-old professional triathlete from Heidelberg reported on Instagram that she collapsed two hours after crossing the finish line. She still can’t hold herself upright properly. As Philipp reported in another post, she unfortunately ended up in the medical tent instead of at the party. She was therefore missing from the official press conference of the top five athletes over the 3.86 kilometer swimming, 180.2 kilometer cycling and 42.2 kilometer running. “I’m starting to feel better and want to make sure I can celebrate properly tomorrow,” she wrote.
Philipp came third in the first all-women’s World Championship race on the Big Island behind world champion Lucy Charles-Barclay from Great Britain and Anne Haug from Bayreuth. It was her first World Championship podium over this distance after fourth places in 2019 and 2022. Philipp had to close a gap on the bike after swimming and secured third place at the end of the marathon. This meant that two German women made it onto the podium for the first time. “This is a mega German result,” Haug told ARD.
“Very tired, very tired”
Only the British Lucy Charles-Barclay prevented an even greater German success with her first triumph at the Ironman World Championships. The 30-year-old four-time World Cup runner-up achieved a course record time of unofficial 8:24:31 hours on Saturday (local time) after 3.86 kilometers of swimming, 180.2 kilometers of cycling and 42.2 kilometers of running. “Very tired, very tired, but overjoyed,” said Haug after the race – and now hopes to find something to eat.
After her victory four years ago and three third places, Haug completed her World Cup medal collection with second place. For Philipp, after fourth places in 2019 and a year ago, it was his first podium finish in the first all-women’s World Championship race in Hawaii. “I was very emotional, I had to fight very, very hard,” she said after receiving a warm hug from trainer and husband Philipp Seipp. The men’s title was awarded in Nice just over a month ago.
Things couldn’t have gone better for Haug when the traditional cannon shot signaled the start of the race at 6:25 a.m. local time, but for Philipp it could have. But first things first: Charles-Barclay didn’t really want to swim to the front again. She once missed out on taking part in the Olympics as a swimmer, but in triathlon she is in a class of her own in the water. A long field quickly formed behind Charles-Barclay, in which Haug was also able to maintain contact and benefit from the water shadow of the rivals immediately in front of her.
On the other hand, Philipp fell behind early – that was not their plan at all. Haug’s group didn’t stay together either. However, the Bayreuth native kept the pace with her pursuers, who are considered strong cyclists. Haug came out of the water in 18th place, 4:33 minutes behind. For Philipp it was over seven minutes.
At the front, Charles-Barclay continued to push after the first change and was clearly ahead as they headed onto the legendary Queen Kaahumanu Highway. Haug now benefited from her swimming performance and found herself surrounded by strong cyclists – everything went according to plan. And Philipp did what she had to do to connect with the Haug group. “Ignite the afterburner!” said her coach.
Once caught, Philipp soon moved to the front of the group and then even pulled away. At kilometer 111, Philipp was in fourth place – she had started the bike course in 26th place – almost two and a half minutes ahead of Haug. “It would have been good if she could have gone with Laura,” said Haug’s trainer Dan Lorang, who also coaches Charley-Barclay and was watching the hr television from his dining room. At the front, the Brit, who had not yet completed a long distance in the first half of 2023 after suffering a stress fracture in her foot, continued to run her own race.
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While still in the transition area, Philipp made up another place and started in third place. You are a little more than ten minutes behind the leader. For Haug, in seventh place, it was just over twelve minutes. Both looked strong and their running style was smooth. But there were still over 40 kilometers ahead of us with almost cloudless skies, heat and high humidity. Haug quickly gained further positions and was behind Philipp. At about kilometer 16, Haug passed her, briefly and painlessly.
At just over the half marathon finishing time, Haug was 8:33 minutes behind Charles-Barclay, the American Taylor Knibb was still around two and a half minutes ahead of her. Haug soon had an eye on the Hawaii debutante, who wants to compete in the time trial and triathlon in Paris next year – and then overtook her. Now there were only two questions left: Will Haug also catch up with Charles-Barclay and can Philipp still get past Knibb?
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Ironman World Championships: Germans win silver and bronze
Both tried everything, Haug couldn’t do it anymore, Charles-Barclay was still too fast for that. But Philipp finished third and made it onto the podium for the first time. For the first time this year only women competed in Hawaii. In addition to over 50 professional triathletes, over 2,000 amateur athletes also took part. The men’s World Cup took place in Nice just over a month ago. There will be an exchange next year.
