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2 1 zero. All engine running. Heat. Heat. Hello and welcome to the 2025 Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship. Due to a significant storm system that passed through Hamburg this morning, the start times have been pushed back. The pro start will now be at 7:00 a.m. local time and the age group start will be at 7:10 a.m. local time. It’s still lightly raining right now, but we will still be having a full race here today. And are we in for a great race today with the much anticipated rematch of reigning Iron Man World Champion Laura Phillip, current man, current Iron Man course record holder Cat Matthews, along with a host of other superstars just waiting to put their own stamp on this incredible sport. I’m Marina Carrey and I’m joined by Iron Man World Champion and Olympic silver medalist. The accolades go on and on with this one, the one and only Michael Jones. MJ, great to have you with us today.
Thanks, Reneie. Uh, I definitely am probably as nervous as the competitors waiting for that start. I mean, it’s an unbelievable field today. We actually have three of the fastest women ever on the start line. And I definitely think their preparations were slightly different having that delay. So maybe thinking about a little more nutrition, um changing their warm-up strategy a little slightly because of the conditions, but it looks like we’re in for a great day. Yeah, Margel Pierre on screen right now. She won Axon Provence just a couple of weeks ago. She is lining up for her third Iron Man. And let’s take a look at the Roker weather. It’s 62 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s 17 Celsius. And of course, overcast clouds with that thunderstorm rolling through, but humidity is high 94% MJ. So, uh, winds are low as well. So, the athletes, uh, right now, um, yeah, definitely high humidity in their in their final preparations before the race start. And that’s actually going to make them a little bit warmer as well, being in their wet suits. That’s going to help uh, as they they get ready and prepare to get in that water. But, yeah, the the water temperature is slightly warmer right now than the air temperature. And, uh, with that wind being down, it’s still going to be quite a fast course. Yeah, I mean this course is incredibly fast. Two of the fastest ever times recorded on this course are Jackie Herring last year and Laura Phillip and then of course uh Cat Matthews taking that time down in Texas uh earlier this year. Welcome into the studio. I’m Marina Cafrey again joined by the one and only Mackily Jones. And yeah, we are excited for today’s race. We have some incredible women women lining up and a very fast course ahead. Um yeah, MJ
and a couple of rookies. Yes, rookies as well. So, um, uh, uh, am I blanking? So, loves Seth. She’s just come off their win in Venice Solo. And
she’s an exciting young athlete coming across from Olympic distance. Raced the Olympics last year in Paris and now uh, lining up here in Hamburg. I’m excited to see what she can do over the full distance.
I mean, she’s definitely like a well-rounded athlete, I would say. and uh her run having done a 70.3 her best time is a 116. Uh I think she’s going to really need a lot of leg speed today, particularly if you know she falls a little bit behind on the bike. But you know overall for her it’s just going to be that experience that she lacks compared to our other athletes on course.
And um exactly MJ, we’re going to take a look at the course maps. Now the swim is 3.8 km 2.4 miles. We started in the very represented sorry starters located very representatively in the very heart of Hamburg at Yon Shen Ben Schlick uh the binister the first half a quarter of a mile will be in the inner astera lake and then they’ll go under the Lombard Shreket one of the bridges and then they will head to the outer AA lake for most of their swim.
Yeah. And then they’re going to head to the zoot bike course. Of course, it’s two loops, 180 km. And this is a slightly new course and they are going be towards the western loop which is going to be peppered with the sites along the spreenil harmony and the London spraken and the fish marked. And then of course on the eastern loop it goes through the industrial area of the Rothenberg sort before they’re going to hurt through the ve and marshlanders and then they’re also going to hit the city center of Bagdum Dorf and then of course then they’ll get back to the Ruby transition area and that transition is quite the distance of 550 m.
Yeah. And then the Hoka run course is four laps through the city. Fast times on this course. I’ll go through the heart of the city packed with countless spectators and leads along the western bank of the Alistister and through Hamburg city center. So, uh, a really exciting fast race ahead. We have the athletes in their final preparations right now. Yeah, and the water looks very very calm despite that that storm going through earlier this morning. Um we do see a few sprinkles of rain. So definitely the roads are going to be a little slick in um this part of Germany. They actually haven’t had a lot of rain. I have been there actually for the last 3 months and they haven’t had a lot of rain. So there are there is a chance and some risk early on the bike particularly in the city center streets. Now we have the race start for the pro women coming right up. You know, and we know the thing about challenging yourself is you’re always looking for what’s next. We’re not here to sell you on this life. You already chose it. No shortcuts, no hype, just work. Same as you. Built to outlast, endure. 40 years in and we’re just getting warmed up. Welcome to the Ohana. All right, we continue to see the athletes warming up. I did see Margeline um Pierre taking in some onboard nutrition right before the start of the ROA swim course and we are seeing more and more athletes getting ready as they are going through you can see right now going through their bag making sure they’re staying hydrated getting their nutrition in uh they have their wets suits on you’ll see a lot of them start to pull the wet suits up so Renie in terms of swim warm up with the weather. What do you think most of the athletes would have done today?
Yeah, I think it depends on um whether you’re allowed in the water. That’s one of the big um question marks. It doesn’t look like many of the women were getting in. I’m not sure if they’re allowed to hop in and swim. But I think the bigger thing is that 45minut delay is nutrition, right? Like making sure you adjust that nutrition plan a little bit. Maybe take in a few extra calories. Of course, now you’re 45 minutes further into the day. So, you’re, you know, using calories just sitting around. So, you want to just make sure those um fuel levels are topped up a little bit, keep the nerves um calm, you know, keep yourself as calm as possible. Don’t waste any energy. But, um yeah, I think we try and uh do as little as we can and then when it’s time to go, it’s time to go. We’ll look at the pro series standings right now. We have Marta Sanchez in the lead right now. We have Annie Richman who’s racing today. She moved up into or sorry down to second place. She was leading early in the year. Uh we have Cat Matthews the other notables racing today. She has only one race and we expect her to shoot up the rankings after today. Also Sarah Spank, Danielle Lewis, Jackie Herring, Henrique Goober um also expect those and Solve Lov to move up in the standings after today’s race.
No, for sure. And and I think you know talking about that warm up uh one thing will will be nice for these athletes. It’s actually uh in water start. So that’s actually going to give them a little opportunity to get to the start line, warm up a little bit. Um so that will be significant for them because they will get that warm-up chance.
Yeah. And as we look um at the notables, the pro notables in the swim caps, Jackie Herrings in green, we have Laura Phillip in pink. We have Cat Matthews in yellow. We have Annie Richman in light blue. We have Margelene Pierre in neon pink. Sarah Stence in violet. Um, so Lovesfest in pearly pink. Um, we have Elv Visor in violet. And we have Johanna ans in dark blue today. Yeah. So, uh, we did have Stephanie Clutterbuck pull out um, of the race this morning. She was our favorite to lead the swim out and take the swim out really hard. She was very excited to be lining up, but she um woke up this morning and wasn’t feeling well. So has decided to skip this one. Um so it’ll be I think a little bit of a bunch in the swim today.
Yeah, I think you know now that she is not going to be racing, I think it’s going to change the dynamics of this swim. Um I was thinking when I was looking at the the swim that there was going to be maybe one person off the front and then there was going to be a group. And I think if you’re probably a slower swimmer, I think this is going to be your to your benefit because it’s not going to go out as fast because I think there’s four or five girls that like swim very very consistent across their Iron Man distances. And uh this is typically a very fast swim. Uh the waters are quite calm. The scariest thing though is going under those bridges. I mean, the water’s quite dark anyway, and then you go under the bridges, and it’s amazing how sort of eerie that gets when you’re actually doing this particular swim course here in Iron Man Hamburg. Absolutely. And it’s a an overcast day to start with, so a darker um race to start with. And so, I think you’ll see a lot of the athletes uh with the clearer goggles or um maybe not their darkest tint. Margeline Pier on screen right now. Of course, she won 70.3 Oxon Proce just two weeks ago. So coming off that victory and this is only her third Iron Man event. Can you believe that? She was fourth in Nice. Um so
yeah, only young to watch only 25 years of age. So uh definitely she definitely has an awesome career ahead and you know I wouldn’t be surprised if she may be towards the front of the swim. I definitely think, you know, she’s very strong on the bike and the run, but remember in Nice at the Iron Man World Championships last year, you know, she was at the front of that Iron Man World Championships for a long, long time. So, this swim slightly different to to swimming in the Med, but uh this is still like very calm. Obviously, you’re not going to get the buoyancy advantages of the water, but you’re getting the buoyancy advantages of the wet suit.
And we’re moments away from the start now. just around a minute uh a little over a minute until the these ladies take to this course. Uh another athlete I think who will be probably at the front is Cat Matthews. Not really renowned for her great swimming, but without Stephanie Clutterbuck, Cat Matthews seems to swim really well when she has a wet suit on. Um and she’s and she swims well as in the big races. She seems to really perform uh when there’s a lot on the line, when the good competitors or the best in the world are up against her. So I expect her to be in that front group or around the the leaders.
Yeah. And I think Jackie Herring will be close there Duke as well. Like I think she’s she’s very consistent when you look at her races. She’s very very consistent. Obviously she hadn’t raced an Iron Man for a long time um up until last year when she won here in Hamburg. So you know she knows the course. She knows it very well. Obviously, Laura Phillip knows this course really well as well. Um, having not a fast fast swimmer in the front, that actually could benefit Laura a lot more. Um, Laura typically will lose time to Jackie Herring and Cat Matthews. Um, I think Margeline Pierre, I think she’s the one to to watch early. You know, she’s shown that she will take it out and the other athletes will have to chase her. And the ladies are moments away from the gun going off here in Hamburg, Germany.
Yeah, and don’t forget that was Cap Matthews that we saw the Roker Swim Boys as they head off right now. But you saw that Cap Matthews was like sitting on the outer edge of that swim start line. So it looks like uh we have the two outer ends that that’s going to be the fastest paced athletes right now.
Yeah, it does look like it. And uh the ladies are away at the 2025Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship. They have a 2.4 mile swim ahead of them. They’re in the opening 100 meters or so of this race and it does look like the outside two athletes are the fastest. I’m going to say one of them is a yellow cap. Um that’s got to be Cat Matthews. I think she’s left far left. If we get a closer view, we’ll be able to call that um other name on. far left looks to be Cat Matthews in the yellow cap. Um, but we will get closer images as we we um get those images fed through. But there’s about 20 women starting the race here today. So, a relatively smaller field than we’ve we’ve been seeing at these Iron Man Pro Series races. Uh, but uh a small but mighty field, McKilly.
No, for sure. And then like we can see um the green cap there. That’s Jackie Herring just on the inside that we saw. I also saw uh one of the pink caps. I’m assuming that’s probably SVG Lusfests. Yeah,
that would be her based on her um shortc course background
and it could be Margeline Pier. So Margeline also has a pink cap. So we have
I would assume yeah then you might be right that
it does look like Margeline. So Margeline I think is the pink cap on the right and I believe that is Cat Matthews in the yellow cap on the left. Yeah. And then right behind um Margelene Pierre you can see Jackie Herring just getting on the back of her feet right now. And it’s always Yeah. It’s always interesting when you are watching her swim and seeing it spread out like this. And I I think one thing that we’re going to watch with Cat Matthews is she’s going to be super aggressive. The fact that she is the current world record holder after her performance in Texas and she doesn’t shy away from competition. You know, she she lined up in um Texas, knew exactly what she needed to do. She knew how she in training she changed her coaches. She really worked hard on her cycling. And you know, she’s just rock solid. And I think that’s got to give her so much confidence. And of course, she’s our current Iron Man Pro Series champion from last year. So, she knows what it takes to win. And she’s confident. I mean, confidence goes a long way.
And when you break a world record by almost 10 minutes
and not on a fast course either. I’m in Texas. Yes. Uh, you know, they’re on the toll road. It is fast, but hot conditions. um and she went toe-to-toe with one of the sport’s best cyclists in Taylor Nib. Um only riding, you know, second slower than Taylor Nib’s time. So, Cat Matthews has just um risen to another level yet again this year. And it’s amazing to watch um this young woman, you know, go about her craft and and she’s on screen right now leading this swim. Uh this is an athlete that you know isn’t renowned for a great swimming um sort of second pack um athlete, but she’s taking the bull by the horns in this one. And as I look back there, I believe the other two ladies uh in the pink capsu Laura Phillip is one of the pink caps. So if she’s hanging there, it looks like uh Cat’s sort of starting to make a little bit of a break, but uh Pearly Pink is Laura Phillip. Neon pink is Margeline Pierre, which we believe was the right side lead. and Sang Lovth um from Norway is the pearly pink as well. So, a couple of pink caps all across there. Yes, the one number five is Margelane Pierre. You can see that five on her cap as we guess that’s Margeline, but I believe that’s Laura Phillip along with Sang on the left hand side right now. Yeah, Reie, you’re I think you’re exactly right in in terms of of those two pink caps and and I think with Laura Phillips, she’s another athlete has gone away to do her homework. You know, she’s our defending Iron Man world champion and she knows that she’s got to get better in in that swim. I mean, she is fantastic on the bike, she’s fantastic on the run. On paper, you know, she is faster than Cat Matthews on the run, but I think the way that Cat is riding and how aggressive she’s being, it looks like maybe one of our athletes athletes missed the start.
Start. Yeah.
Yeah. So, an orange cap, so not one of the notables. So, I’m I’m not sure who that athlete was, but it does look like one of the pros have missed the start. And we’re 5 minutes in. So, that’s a big head start. I mean, it is an iron man. a long day out there, but uh yeah, she is she has missed the sp start. A little bit of miscommunication um in her camp and um unfortunately has missed the start of this race. That’s your worst nightmare, McKilly. Oh my gosh.
How many times have you woken up? So many
in that. Oh my goodness. That’s the worst feeling. I I I have that dream a lot as we go under one of the the bridges. As I said, you know, this gets so dark, but you know, that’s the thing about racing. It’s like, you know, when things change, you got to be adaptable and like obviously maybe something happened to that athlete. Maybe, you know, a wet suit zipper or just missed something and like maybe there was a miscommunication or something. But it’s like, you know, I always tell people it’s always better to be 5 minutes early.
Yes.
Than 5 minutes late. But yeah, Cat Matthews, I think her technique’s gotten better, too. I mean, I’ve watched her many times and just when we saw her before they were going under this bridge, I was I was impressed by her stroke rate. Uh you can see though they’ve started to bridge back after they went through the one of the tunnels. It looks like actually they are catching back up. But Reinnie, talk about how hard it actually is to make up time in the swim. Oh, it looks like uh Cat either I don’t know. She took a second to find the buoy. And again, as you mentioned, a little bit dark, maybe a little disorientating uh going under the bridge, but uh that gave I think that’s Laura Phillip uh a chance to try and get back onto the feet. And these two will be, you know, watching each other all day long. Laura Phillip would have started next to Cat and this is my mark. I want to swim with Cat. And again, Laura Phillip had a great swim just last weekend. She did the 70.3 in Germany and um a great swim. So, she’s been working very hard on that swim and uh yeah, she won’t want to give uh Cat Matthews an inch. Uh we see Cat now underneath the bridge and it looks like if that is in fact Laura Phillip, it does look like her. Um again, we have three pink caps and you know, we got Laura Phillip, we got uh um Solve Loves and also Margelane Pier. But
Reie, here’s a question.
Cat Matthews, have we ever seen her in this situation in an Iron Man race leading? And it’s different when you have to be at the front of the race. You have to know the course and you if you’re not used to like having to look up and make sure you are swimming straight. When you’re used to sitting in a pack, it takes a lot of practice to be one comfortable. And I’m sure like when cat stopped back then whether it was like oh I better make sure I’m like swimming the right way. I mean it can be really difficult if you’re not used to that. I mean do you think at any time in this last week was she going through her race scenarios thinking that she was going to be in the number one position in the swim?
Not with Stephanie Clutterbuck on the start line. I think she was like okay that’s my mark. Um she is the best swimmer and um if I can hang with her I think that would have been her pre-race. But, you know, when people drop out before the race, you have to adjust plans. And um I don’t I don’t think this is bad for Cat. I think this is just like, okay, it’s a new situation. I’m in the driver’s seat here. This is a place maybe I’ve not really been in many times in my career, but I think she’ll handle it um very nicely. And um if we can get a close look up on that cat, that pink cat, we might be able to pick out the number and see who it is. But it looks like those three pink caps are swimming right on Cat’s um Cat’s feet there. So yeah, I’m excited. This already is shaping up to be a race for the ages with uh with those two women, you know, neck and neck really at the opening stages of the swim. And of course, um the expectation is that Cat will put a few minutes into Laura. Um that’s sort of historically what has happened or what it looks like would happen on paper. But um yeah, again I think Laura Phillip knows that that’s her small weakness and that’s something that she needs to get right if she wants to win the world title again, defend her title um and go and win in Kona. So um yeah, I’m I’m pretty excited about how it’s already playing out. No, and I mean it it’s it’s one of those races where as fans of the sport, it’s going to be an amazing day. As I said, when you have three of the fastest women ever lined up, that’s going to make for unbelievable racing. And I mean, when I was talking to Laura Phillip earlier, you know, she knew it was going to be a cat and mouse game. I hate to say that, but we’re probably gonna be, you know, doing that a lot today that
she knows that
how what sort of form Cat’s in. And we also know Laura Phillip raced last weekend and, you know, significantly that may carry a little bit of fatigue, but like I really believe these professional athletes, like when you’re training for an Iron Man, a 70.3 is really nothing.
Yeah.
You know, it it really isn’t. It’s like they’re so used to doing such a load. So, I don’t think it’ll really hurt anyone. But Laura Phillip had to be watching that day in Texas.
Absolutely.
Knowing this race was coming. What do I need to do? Yep. On paper, I’m a better runner. On paper, Cat was a better swimmer. Right now, it’s neck and neck. and the bike. That’s going to be where we’re going to see. We know Cat’s improved. We know Laura Phillip is really, really good on the bike. You know, we’ve seen her race. This is a flat course. Um, so it’s going to be really, really interesting to see what happens. I think particularly the start of the bike and I mean it’s still a long way. Um, but if this is as we think Cat Matthews in the lead, Laura, Laura Phillip right on her feet. I think that look it might be Laura Laura Phillip in third and then Jackie Herring. So in fourth in fourth and Margelane I think is right behind as well. So and solving love Seth as well. So this is going to be a powerp packed uh group of women coming out of the water together. Um yeah I mean this is exactly how we would have hoped. We also have that blue cap, Annie Riceman. Maybe it’s a It says she’s a light blue cap. Sorry, dark blue. That’s Johanna Arens. So, not Annie Richman. We expect her to be a little bit further back. But Annie, of course, winning the Iron Man down in South Africa at the first race of the Iron Man Pro Series earlier this year in March. And she also raced Venice Sholo. Didn’t have the best race uh there, but she was in Iron Man training. said she just was a little flat. So Annie, we expect her to get out a little bit um behind and and sort of do her best to to to ride up to this group, but this group is just there’s not many stronger groups of women who can ride a bike than who we have on screen right now. And yeah, and you you can see there is a little bit of chop in the water. It’s not as smooth as it was at the start of this swim. So definitely, you know, you do have to change your stroke a little bit. Not not significantly because the chop’s sort of like pushing past you. It’s not coming from the side, but yeah, you can you can see how spread out our women’s field is is uh is starting to like the pace up front is definitely maybe slowed down slightly because that group has caught up. And you know that’s sort of like the the gamble that you take when you go out really really hard in in that swim. Okay, who’s going to match it? Who’s not? And I think it was really just unfortunate that Cat Matthews had to take that small pause because that’s going to make it so much easier if you’re behind because typically if you are behind it’s really really hard to catch back up. So, I think if I was going to say what’s been the biggest mistake so far today, I think it’s, you know, when Cat Matthews, what forever reason, if it was a sighting issue, she had to adjust her goggles or whatever it was. I I would say that was the first mistake that I’ve seen all day. Yeah, a smallest mistake there, just uh re, you know, stopping to make sure she’s swimming the right way. again um maybe not used to although you know I think these women are used to having to sight themselves because you know Cat maybe she’s not in you know sitting on someone’s feet in the front pack but I feel like she leads the second pack a lot of the time and so you generally aren’t citing the athletes ahead of you you’re still citing the boys so this is not unfamiliar territory for her but I think the unique um aspect of this race and the reason the field is is um stringing out so much is because there are only 20 women in this race. So there’s less athletes to fill in the gaps between Cat Matthews and the Annie Richman’s and um the athletes that are a little El’s Vissa um a little bit further back. So um yeah, but this this little pack here um is power packed. And you can see Jackie Herring uh is now trying to make a move. She’s actually gone gone out of the draft and she’s chosen a slightly different line. So perhaps, you know, she was thinking that the pace needed to be picked up. Definitely someone like Jackie, you know, she wants to have less people around her for sure. I mean, she’s definitely like strong on the run. I think her bike, I think, would probably be a little bit of her the weakest link. Not to say it’s weak, but yeah. But yeah, no, she has definitely decided that she needs to attack and she’s attacking and she’s making up some good ground because she was like fourth or fifth back. So definitely whatever’s gone through her mind, she’s decided that she needs to get out and and do something. And uh I wouldn’t be surprised if we see her taking over the lead in the next few minutes. Yeah. And as we look at Cat Matthews, we have a Fighting Chance presented by Hoker is our race week series. It takes you into the inner everyday lives of elite triathletes on an under the hood look at the athlete journey. This week we caught up with Cat Matthews. Let’s take a listen. You’re getting unconfident but honest, Cat. I said to Mark the other day like, I’m feeling the pressure. I’m really feeling the pressure. Ultimately, the pressure is self-generated. It’s not from external sources. but it’s irrelevant of anyone else. Um, so I think yeah, I am really feeling the pressure but that’s my own expectation of my quality of effort as well as performance. Not my not my Texas confident self, I’d say. I was going to say coming off that record set in performance in Texas. I mean, how have you been balancing the recovery and training? Cuz it’s not been that long ago, I guess. Yeah, I think the the athlete in me would say not great, but from the bigger perspective of things, it’s been absolutely fine. Today is a course trekky with Alex. Um it’s the roads are so quiet, so we can just head out and actually try and practice some of the maybe slightly technical aspects. Again, like trying to find some sort of edge, I guess, rather than just here’s the race, go and race it, which I think is what I am used to just tackling it as it comes. I want to get ahead of it and make a plan and have a goal for every kilometer. Is this a redemption race or just want to race uh a European championship? What’s the the logic behind this particular race for you?
Um Hamburg works really well with um the logistics. We really like the city as in like it’s easy to get here. We really like the city. Everything’s simple. came before we got friends here. You know, it’s it’s comfortable. Um the roads are really good. It’s enjoyable to ride. You know, all of those big factors about enjoying triathlon. Um but I think it made sense for the Pro Series to do another Iron Man to try and get the second Iron Man in to give myself a real recovery block um from the marathon before going into sort of a Kona build. So, I really wanted to really focus on Kona rather than just saturate my season with races all the way through the year. Are you strategizing for this particular competition this weekend?
I want to swim in front of Laura. Want to stay in front of Laura on the bike and if not, put time into her. And I’d like to minimize the deficit on the run and hopefully she never catches me. Thanks to Cat Matthews and a Fighting Chance presented by Hoka. For more, watch short AFC episodes on Instagram at Ironman Try and full AFC episodes on proseries. And our Iron Man triathlon YouTube channel. Um, interesting. She uh definitely was thinking about Laura Phillip um in that uh in that little interview. I want to outswim Laura and then I want to put time into run the bike and I hope to never ever even see her on the run. But uh right now I think uh Laura Phillip has other ideas.
No, she definitely does. I mean, I mean, this is what happens when you don’t have a real swimmer in a race. It changes the dynamics of of the race. And we actually saw Jackie Herring like trying to get up past the front and now we’ve seen her settle back in. And there looks to be like a little bit of a tiny little gap that started to form at those back um athletes. So, you know, for Cat, you know, I think the confidence that she’s showing that she’s going to take it out. I mean, she’s living to her strategy, right? Focus on myself, get out the front. Maybe not the dream of not having anyone else with her, but you know, that’s where the excite excitement’s going to happen down the road. You know, and we know the thing about challenging yourself is you’re always looking for what’s next. Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship is brought to you by Roker. Find faster with Roker. And by Trot. Better training results in less time with fewer injuries. And we’re here at the 2025 Guitar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship. And we have Cat Matthews in the lead right now. We have uh Laura Phillip in there in a pink cap. We believe she’s in second or third. Margelene Pier is in there. Solve Lo Seth. It looks like one of those pink caps. So, one of the pink caps has dropped off the back. That is one of those women I just mentioned. Unfortunately, all three of them in pink. That was our bad by giving them all the same color. Jackie Herring in green there in that front group. And I believe the the dark blue is Yanna Aren. Yeah, it’s definitely uh an interesting race that uh all our favorites are are right with everyone else. I mean, this is going to be so competitive in the fact that the conditions uh even though we had that delayed start, I feel like the the the temperature conditions uh are going to be perfect. The roads should quickly dry up. Um which is going to be very very helpful. Um what are we probably like 23 minutes into the swim right now? Um this is typically a fast swim. Um even with this the slight bumps in the water right now as they go around one of the the turning markers in the broker swim course.
The fastest swim time was recorded in 2021. That was 4746 from Lauren Brandon. Uh last year no one broke 50 minutes. So Julia Melo was the fastest in 50 38. I think they’ll be a little bit slower just because we don’t have a swim specialist, so to speak, in in this uh field right now, but uh looks like this front group of five are sort of bunching up a little bit. And for the first time, Cat Matthews is relinquishing that lead to one of our pink caps, which as again is either Svang Lovith, Margeline Pier, or Laura Phillip. Um if we can get a closer look on those women, we’ll be able to give you their names. I think Margelane Pier is in the middle and I’m going to guess that that’s Solvang Lothk in with Jackie Herring on the right. I think Laura Phillip might have been popped off the back of this little group. Um she was sitting in here earlier. Um but again, I’m just guessing those three women in pink. We have two of the three in this group right now. And I mean that’s one of the things when you are swimming a 2.4 four mile swim. It’s like, you know, the stronger athletes will just get stronger and stronger as the race goes on. And as if that’s the case that Laura Phillip has dropped off on on the back of this pack, that would be one of the reasons. I mean, this these athletes usually swim all around the same times. They’re pretty consistent. And as we’ve talked about having a non sort of swimmer in this race, um I think that’s what we’re seeing. It’s, you know, it’s a a small pack. And it was interesting, Reinnie, because they there was sort of like three a breast and then we saw Jackie Herring again aggressive. We saw her trying to be aggressive not too long ago going from the fourth position trying to work her way up the front. And I think this is probably in the best interest of Cat because she did she did a lot of work for 25 minutes and now she gets the opportunity to sort of take a breath um relax a little bit, settle into probably a slightly different um rhythm.
I think that’s uh Laura Phillip there.
Oh, that’s
So if that is Laura Phillip, she is hanging and having a great a great swim. I think that might be Margeline and Laura Phillip. um in the pink caps. Yeah, it’s interesting cuz uh they were swimming quite high in the water just then, the two swim caps. So perhaps they’re like struggling a little bit because obviously Jackie’s gone to the front and up the pace again. And I like how um Cat Matthews is just sitting on the outside of her her feet and now she’s starting to move up into actually the fastest pos position. But I think again like cats thinking that you know the pace has dropped back a little bit. So now you have two swimmers side by side really being super aggressive. And I think again these two athletes realize that you know we’ve got to push the pace. We’ve got to make a difference. Particularly you know when we were listening to what Cat said you know she doesn’t want Laura to be around. And I’m sure when she sort of slipped back, I’m sure she had a little glance over her shoulder to see actually who was with her. And
of course, Jackie Herring there in the green cap. She’s already scored two podiums in Oceanside and also St. George. So, two 70.3s. She’s coming into this race. Uh this is her first Iron Man for the year. I believe she’s doing Lake Placid a little later in the year. So, this is her first IMAN of the year in her quest for another great result in the IMAN Pro Series. And this is first and second last year in the IMAN Pro Series. Cat Matthews taking out that $200,000 prize purse. Uh and Jackie Herring taking the $130,000 uh in second. So Jackie of course won this race last year and had a phenomenal performance. Uh went 819. So at that time the second fastest ever Iron Man time. Um second only to Laura Phillip who set the fastest time in 22 here in Hamburg. But of course, the woman leading right now, Cat Matthews, uh just obliterating that time and going 810 in Texas earlier this year, just in last month in uh April. So, uh again, can’t overstate how incredible these women are and how much they are press pushing the boundaries of what is possible for women um in the sport of Iron Man. And you know, you were talking about confidence and I actually had a chance to ask Jackie about her confidence so far and you know, she said she was happy with how her pros series had started with that second in Oceanside and the third in St. George. I mean, she said podiums are nice, but most of all, the body is feeling good and strong and uh her she feels her confidence is in a good spot. Uh, she does say that no Iron Man race is the same and she’s excited to see what Hamburg Hamburg will have in store. And she says, “I trust my body and my ability to figure out any situation as we’re seeing in the swim.” Right? We see her trying to get to the front. Now she’s sitting back. And I think, you know, that’s one thing that you have to have. I think she’s totally right. You know, it’s the confidence that we saw Cat gain from Iron Man Texas and in the interview we saw and now we’re seeing the confidence that Jackie has, you know, from just getting into an Iron Man. I think that’s that positive mindset set. You know, it’s it’s very very early, but having that positivity leading into the race, and I think she’s right, too, like every single Iron Man’s different. Doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past, what you’re going to do in the future. It’s what you do now. Yeah, absolutely. It’s all about what the here and now. But, um, I just wanted to ask you, MJ, what do you think about Cat um taking back over that lead? Do you think she’s It To me, it just says, “I don’t care who’s around me. I’m going to push the limits at every moment in this race. I don’t need to sit on anyone’s feet. I can do an individual time trial all day today.” um a more um maybe ky competitor might sit in and say, “Okay, well, I’m going to sit on the feet here, save a little bit of energy. It’s a long day as an iron man. Jackie’s swimming the same paceish as me.” Um but Cat wasn’t having any of it. No, but I think when we just saw her fighting chance video, it was exactly what she said is what she’s doing. I want to go out and test myself. And that’s exactly what she’s doing. She’s going out and testing herself. She’s she’s basically racing against herself. She feels that she needs to get out in front. She wants to take control. And she’s the fastest athlete in the world right now. And I mean that’s as I said, we just talked about confidence. It’s like obviously she has great form. Has she recovered from Iron Man Texas?
I mean that’s the question, right? Five weeks?
Yes. I mean, some athletes have no problem recovering. Me, on the other hand, take a lot longer. You and me both.
But it’s, you know, one of those things. Oh, what’s happening now?
Oh, is she telling telling telling them?
It look like she’s like, you know what? Someone else lead that, that was uh she little move.
I don’t know if she wanted to adjust her wets suit. She sort of put her hands to the front, but I I think she
or she kind of or were they swimming on her feet and she’s like, “Um
I think I it looked like she was smiling when she turned around. I was like, “Okay, someone else have a turn now.” I don’t know. I It seemed It didn’t seem aggressive or angry. It just seemed like, “All right, somebody else have a turn.” Which was different to what we were thinking. The mindset of Cat said to me when, you know, Jackie went to the front and then she just went back around her was that no, I’m going to time trial this this thing. But uh yeah, just now it seemed like she kind of turned around and you know had a word. I’m sure no one heard what she said cuz everyone’s head sort of underwater underneath the cap, but um it looked like she had a little grin on her face. I’ll be interested to sort of find out what what that was about um later on. But again, it is a long day and these ladies know each other so well. Um you know, they’re friends, you know, fierce competitors, but you know, friends off the raceourse. So, um, and it was really interesting because Cat was in the lead
and Jackie was sitting off to the side to the side. So,
yeah, I I have no idea what was going through ahead. I mean, for me in that situation, if somebody was like really sitting on my feet and it was annoying me, maybe I’d stop for a second. But yeah, like we really don’t know what happened in that moment. Yes. Uh the women are on the back half of this swim. We will see so much more in moments. I’m not here to sell you on this life. You already chose it. No shortcuts, no hype, just work. Same as you. Built to outlast, endure. 40 years in and we’re just getting warmed up. Welcome to the Ohana. You know, and we know the thing about challenging yourself is you’re always looking for what’s next. You’re watching the Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship. I’m Marina Carfrey joined by Iron Man World Champion and Olympic silver medalist Michael Jones and we have Jackie Herring on screen right now leading this swim. We had Cat Matthews in the lead for a sizable amount of the swim 2530 minutes and uh she decided to slip back and now she’s sitting sort of in uh equal third on screen in the yellow cap. And we’re going to look at that replay when she took that little break right here. It looked like she Yeah, I think I think it was just a she kind of nodded with her head, you know, someone else take a lead. I think she saw Jackie on the right hand side and and was like, what what are we doing here? Like, someone else take a lead. Let’s uh let’s share the work. Yeah, I’m I’m glad we got to see the the replay because it was very unusual because Jackie w Jackie wasn’t in the lead. It was Cat Matthews that was actually in the lead. So, whatever it was, it compelled Cat to like sit up sort of like say something, not say something like, “Hey, come on, get off my feet. Get up here. Let’s let’s work together.” And and we did get word that perhaps that Laura Phillip was maybe uh sitting in fifth or sixth position as well. Reinnie,
I mean, this is a delayed start. Uh the water temperature um was 17.6° C.
Wet suit swim for everybody.
Yeah, wet suit swim for everyone today. Um and we’ve had again, we’re going to say it a lot, right? There’s already been like a cat and mouse game. I hate to keep saying that pun, but yeah, it’s interesting because I don’t know if the buoys are a little bit hard to see right now because I mean I felt like Jackie Herring had moved over a little bit more when she took the lead and now we see um Cat Matthews on the other side. So I wonder if Cat just sort of wanted to float back and see who was in the pack like who who are these women? Who am I swimming with? And now she knows maybe she knows Laura’s off the back and she’s like, “All right, this is my chance to get a little bit more time. I want a buffer on Laura Phillip. I’d love to get on the bike and be, you know, away from her.” And as she said in her AFC, I I don’t want to see her all day. I’d like to put time into on the bike and hopefully I never even see her, you know, on the run. So I think, yeah, maybe she was just sort of sliding back to see who was amongst the women in the pack. And again, Jackie Herring in green, Cat Matthews leading Solving Love Seth in one of the pink caps and also uh Margeline Pier was in the other pink cap. So that’s who we’re being told are the two pink caps. So we’ll of course know as soon as they hop out of the water and we get to see them on dry land. Um but these ladies now making their way back uh to the swim start. They’ve done the big loop in the big section of the lake. They’ll go back underneath the bridge and then head out to transition the Ruby transition. And you know, it’s it’s always interesting when you you’re watching the dynamics and the dynamics of this race is has been very different. There’s not a lot of times that you see an athlete sit up and unless there’s something wrong. And you know, we’ve seen Cat do this now several times. And if she’s being aggressive like this in the water, imagine what she’s going to be like when she gets on the bike. I think, you know, but then but then I think the other way. It’s like she’s also slowing herself down. Every time she stops, she is slowing herself down. And it’s like when I’ve been on a start line, one second is significant that you stop and you know she’s stopping for like three or four seconds. So she’s disrupting the flow not just for her but actually everyone in the group. Yeah. But she is dictating the pace right now. So I think uh you know she’s able to sort of you know make that decision. And again, Cat last year um raced a lot and this year she’s been much more calculated. She’s trying to get her two Iron Mans. Of course, for the Iron Man Pro Series, you need three Iron Man finishes. Uh today, she’ll be racing for 5,000 points. She’s already scored 5,000. That’s a max amount of points you can score in an Iron Man outside of the World Champs. Um she’ll then go to Coner and uh the max points there is 6,000 points. So, she’ll obviously be trying to get as close to the lead in that race as as well. But uh last year I feel like she was racing like a ton. I mean she did came to Hamburg. Um she didn’t finish Hamburg cuz she got disqualified last year cuz she um accidentally went around an athlete in a no pass zone um that was disqualified and then she flew to San Francisco and raced um in San Francisco over a middle distance um event and and raced fairly well I must say after traveling and and the upset of being disqualified from an Iron Man event. Um, and I feel like she was all over the world racing and and being consistent and incredible. Um, but this year she really wants that Kona title. IM Pro Series is sort of a I think her secondary goal. No, you might be right. And I mean, I think that’s what we saw a lot last year, like people trying to figure out what it takes to do well in the Pro Series or what it takes to do well in an Iron Man World Championship or a 70.3 World Championship. And our sports getting so specialized that, you know, it’s so competitive. Like, as I said, there is three of the fastest women ever on the start line here. So, when you’re going in and you’re racing, the races are so competitive and it doesn’t matter if you’re going for that Iron Man Pro Series or you’re going for an Iron Man World Championship slot. It is competitive and people now are deciding, you know, what goal do I want? Do I want that prestige of the Pro Series or do I want the prestige of being an Iron Man World Champion? And when we saw Cat Matthews in a fighting chance, she she says this race is going to give her lots of time to recover from the Iron Man marathon so she can prepare as best as she can for the Iron Man World Championship. And I said I think that tells you her story right there, Reneie. I think you’re right. You’re exactly right. You know, she is calculated. She said she’s calculated. And you know, she’s looked at the calendar and decided, you know, the Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg is early enough and already has great fitness from her uh world recordbreaking performance in Texas. and she’s going to do everything I think to get as many points as she can today because I think really the B goal would still be to retain that Iron Man World Championship performance and if she can win here today, get that Iron Man
series uh the Iron Man World Championships. I mean, it’s
nobody nobody’s going to get near her.
I think it’s just one thing that’s not on her resume yet. just the Iron Man world title came runner up last year to um Laura Phillip and and that’s just something she hasn’t been able to attain yet and
like she got also got second at the 7.3 world championship incredible. So if you were hungry, you you she’s going to be like 10 times more hungry. And you know, today is a day where she is going up against one of two people that really beat her last year. And so I think, you know, that’s another thing that’s on her her mind. If you’re going to go into an Iron World Championship and you can go into that Iron Man World Championship knowing you’ve beaten your best competitors all year, I mean again, confidence. Confidence. Um, and the athletes are heading back under one of the two bridges. They’ll be heading into the Binian est. Sorry, I am so bad with the German pronunciation, so bear with me. But it is the smaller of the two artificial legs. The athletes started there and then they went out into the larger of the two. Located in the heart of Germany, it is originally created as a reservoir for a mill in the Middle Ages and is now one of the city’s most iconic landmarks. It’s a favorite spot for the locals and tourists alike, offering picturesque views and a relaxed urban atmosphere. The athletes uh if you look at the split screen, the transition area is significant here in Hamburg. It’s over 700 m long from swim exit to sorry swim exit to bike exit. So the athletes will run all the way from that swim exit through the bag tents all the way to the end of the bike entry exit here. That’s where they’ll pick up their bikes and head out on the on the on the bike course on the zoo bike course. But uh yeah, a very long run through transition um here in Hamburg. Um and it’s already a fast course. So imagine if you know they could condense that transition area. This this race would be the fastest race in the world. That is definitely a long transition as they come through the final bridge. We’re sitting at 44 minutes and 37 seconds. Uh yeah, that transition I have raced here many times and yes it is probably the longest transition um most athletes will ever do and and you’re right Reinnie like even with that long transition this is a very very fast race and these athletes are getting very very close to exiting the water. Um, and then they’re going to go through that 750 meter run. You said that 750 meter run. Um, and it’s just the way the the landscape of Hamburg. It’s just the way that the transition has to set up because they come out sort of like right in the city center and then you when you exit the water you make a very tight lefthand turn and then it’s just a long straightaway. The transition is just this huge long straightaway and that will take you out of the the city limits. But it’s actually such a pretty city. It’s one of my favorite cities to to go vi visit. Um it has such a strong history. Um it’s beautiful. There’s actually great shopping, too.
Very. Yeah, I’ll be racing uh on this venue in a in a couple of weeks and uh yeah, I’ve raced here a few times and the atmosphere and the crowd and the Germans just are so passionate about triathlon and Iron Man racing and they have so many awesome athletes. You know, they’ve really like changed the nature of triathlon in so many ways. If we went back and looked at the history of triathlon, it’s amazing how many German athletes have have really been game changers.
Absolutely. And as we look at these women, uh the front pack now down to four. Uh Johanna Arens from Germany has been dropped. She was just off the back in that dark blue cap. But uh Cat Matthews still leading here. Jackie Herring on the back there. Um the two pink caps. Um we think Margeline Pierre is one of those pink caps and Solvang Love Seth is the other. We believe Laura Phillip has dropped off but the ladies are now in the last yeah a few minutes we’re at 47 minutes now and of course record is around 47 and change from Lauren Brandon back in 2001 and last year no one went faster than 50 minutes in this swim. So, we’ll see where the ladies stop the clock uh momentarily, but the women almost finishing up this Roka swim course and they’ll be into the Ruby bike transition one. Yeah. And then I’m interested to know where that time split’s going to be for Laura Phillip. But, um Jackie is sitting in a nice position. Um she’s right at the back of this pack right now. So she’s getting a little bit of a recovery. Um as we said, Cat Matthews has really been the one that is from the start of the race to right now. I mean, she’s been on the front the majority of the time. Um and you know, once she gets out on that bike course, we already know she’s in great bike form. So she’s really going to rip through the streets of Hamburg early. I mean, I I really don’t think any of these athletes right now are going to really be able to stay with her, but you know, it’s it’s going to be a little slick, so they’re going to have to be a little bit careful. Definitely, there’s not much wind, so that’s going to be to their benefit for fast times on the bike. It’s a fast flat course, so if you are a slightly weaker cyclist, that’s also going to benefit you. Typically though, like on a on a this type of course, you know, you’re using your same muscle groups over and over and over again. So, that’s going to create an extra amount of fatigue compared to a hillier course. Yeah, the ladies uh great aerial view there. Still a little ways to go. So, I think it’ll be over that 50 minute mark for the women here today. And again, Stephanie Clutterbuck was on the start list for today’s race. She raced in Texas 5 weeks ago as well. Um but she was not feeling well this morning and was unable to make the start. So uh that was this the swimmer of the class of the field in the in terms of swimming. Um we were expecting her to sort of be really aggressive in the start of the swim and uh she pulled out. So we have Cat Matthews, Jackie Herring, we have Soul Vang Love Seth, we have Margeline Pierre, we have Laura Phillip back there somewhere. And we also have Johanna Arent in the dark blue cap you see are off the back of that group of four. But these women making the last turn around this buoy and they’ll make their way into the finish into the Ruby transition one area in the next few minutes. And that’s actually the transition area that’s sitting off to the to the right hand side. So they have swam around that and they’ll be coming in towards the exit. But basically where you see the trees on the right side, they will be coming out of the swim uh making that left turn and then running back towards where you see um the people in the background and then they’ll exit out through there. So yeah, Renie, I think you’re right. I think like this is probably maybe going to be a 54minut swim rather than uh uh what’s the record was record was
47 47. But last year that you know there were some great swimmers and they didn’t swim faster than 50 minutes. So Lauren Brandon was the is the course record holder in 47 and change uh from a few years back. But um last year the fastest swim was around 40 sorry 50 and change. So it looks like it’s going to be yeah 53 minutesish 54 minutes maybe. But uh not a blistering fast swim but I can promise you the bike and run will be blistering fast with these women. But, you know, sometimes that’s, you know, the conditions and I think not having like a a super fast swimmer at the front of the pack and, you know, definitely, as I said, Cat Matthews has, you know, created um a few issues in the swim where she stopped. So, that slows you down. And, you know, it’s like anything. If you’re moving, you know, you’re gaining so much time. As soon as you stop, you may stop for 1 second, but it creates like even more time loss by the time you get back into your stroke, by the time you get back into your rhythm. So, I mean, it may not be significant over this distance, but think about if it came down to a sprint finish, Renie.
Think about what would be going through your mind the the the three times that she stopped. Think about how much that could have an impact if this came down to a sprint finish.
I mean, incredible. I mean, incredible for the sport. Um, you know, we saw Laura Phillip and Cat Matthews go headto-head in Nice. And I actually got some word now that we do think Laura Phillip is in this group. So, we’re getting mixed uh mixed um messaging, but we will know in just moments now. But uh I mean that sets up for a very exciting day if Laura Phillip is out with Jackie Herring with Solving Love Seth. I mean that changes things. It certainly does and our apologies if we were incorrect but you know we can only see what we can see and unfortunately we haven’t been able to see any numbers on the swim caps but yeah Reinnie it would be absolutely incredible because it’s going to be a jewel
if if they are this close it’s going to be aggressive early because we already know from what we’re seeing Cat Matthews is is not going to be slowing down. I mean, she’s already been super aggressive in this swim. She’s been at the front most of the time. And if that is Laura Phillip right in there in the pack, fantastic for her as well because, you know, she came into this race, she knew that she had to have a good swim. And I actually did get um to talk to Laura a little bit earlier and, you know, she said, you know, she changed her approach a little bit. She spent a lot of training the last uh few weeks in Germany. Um she hasn’t done a lot of her key sessions that she usually does yet, but she’s also excited to see where her fitness is. We saw her race last week, but again, her big goal is, as she said, is to peak in Hawaii. Yeah, she’s she’s definitely trying to build through her season and that’s what we saw her do so beautifully last year and peak for Nice and and I think that’s what it takes. You have to set your season up around the World Championship event in order to have your best performance there. And and when we talk about peing, it’s one or two times a year that the athletes can truly peak. Uh in your experience, MJ, you know, how hard was the double peak? almost impossible.
No. And I mean, that’s the thing with the pro series now. It’s like some athletes are going to choose to maybe peak, but some athletes are going to choose just to have like a a a sort of a steady sort of rhythm to their to their training. But Laura Phillip did also say, “I am not expecting anything magical yet, but I think it’s pretty magical that if that’s her where we think she is, we’re about to get the splits come out.” That would be a pretty magical swim coming from her.
Yeah. So, you see Cat Matthews out of the swim. That’s Solving Love Seth. That is
Laura Phillip.
Laura Phillip right there. And Jackie Herring out in fourth. So, an incredible swim from Laura Phillips sitting right in that group. These really are all of our favorites. We have a couple Annie Richman back in the field. Margeline Pier as well um a little bit back in the field. Surprising not to have Margeline. And as we look at the Wahoo Element rival official swim time, 5438. So 54 was your guess. MJ, you got that right for Cat Matthews. That was the 2.4 mile or 3.8 km swim. Um, but we have four women now in the transition zone, in the Ruby transition zone. It’s a 700 meter run. And look at the crowds, MJ. And I love, that’s what I love so much about Germany. The people come out and they come out in force. And we’re seeing our fifth place woman get out of the water right now. And that’s Johanna Arens from Germany. I’m sure she’ll get a big cheer as she comes through this massive crowd of people. Um, but yeah, just the streets are lined with spectators. They’ll come out and they’ll watch all day long. Um, and it’s just such a treat as an athlete to be able to race in front of adoring fans. Jackie Herring on screen right now.
Laura Phillip being the German
and Laura of course. Yeah, being the German with the German crowd, the German local, it’s like and being upfront. I mean, didn’t really expect that at the beginning if we were going through the strategies for these athletes, but as we said, you know, having a slightly uh weaker swim field in terms we didn’t have a specialist swimmer. I think that’s definitely um enabled them to do that.
Yeah. We look on the right screen, that’s Margeline Pier. That was the other pink cap that we weren’t sure um if she was in that pack. We expected her to be in the front group, but she was just a little down. And we see the ladies now in transition. Solving loves Seth fastest out of transition right now. She was incredible uh just a few weeks back. And Venice Jolo winning that race and running a 116 off one a 206 bike. So she is dangerous and this is her first Iron Man. So really interested to see how uh she handles the full distance race. and uh and that short scored speed and transitions like it’s paying up but like look behind I mean they’re nobody’s nobody’s like
taking their time in this transition.
It’s like you can see Laura and um Jackie right in the background as well as Cat Matthews coming through. I think Jackie Herring has just lost a little bit of time because that definitely looks like um
Cat and Laura. Cat and Laura. The cat and mouse game. Who’s the cat, though? Uh, we’ll have to wait and see.
And we just saw uh Margeline go through the transition, grabbing her gear,
but I think we’re in for a treat. I mean, these two are just going to stick side by side to side. I don’t think either one of these athletes can break each other on the bike. That’s like a big point right now. But I don’t know, Reinnie, do you think either one of these girls have an an advantage on that bike? I mean, I think the way Cat Matthews raced in Texas was that was another level Cat. Again, Laura Phillip, one of the best bikers in our sport. She caught up to Cat and in Nice, but that was a hilly course. I think Cat has the upper hand on a flat course, but Cat also already has an Iron Man, you know, in her legs. You know, five weeks ago, she I’m sure she historically she’s been able to back up races and perform time and time again. I feel like I feel like she kind of has the upper hand, but
Laura Phillip
raced last weekend
and she raced, but as you mentioned earlier, she raced to 70.3 and she had a few minutes and so she would have been able to sort of race within herself. So all you know, I don’t know. I think we just have to wait and see what happens here. This is going to be an incredible race having them come out of the water together. Laura Phillip doesn’t have a deficit. We have Margeline Pier on screen right now uh just trying to get that helmet on. She raced two weeks ago and won Axon Provence at 70.3 in the Iron Man Pro Series. Scored maximum points there. An impressive result from her um at that race. But uh yeah, we are looking at let’s see who this is out of the water now. Annie Richman was out of the water um 4 minutes back from the lead. Elvis Vissa also four minutes. That will be a a very strong duo on the bike. Sarah Fank 413. Uh, so that’s a very good group and I think that might have been Rebecca Anderbury um, who was on screen a moment ago getting out of the water, but there’s a group of so seventh through 11th together and Margeline Pierre is 146 down from the lead. So she’s in sixth place and Johanna Arn was 50 seconds down on the lead. So Margeline a little bit um, no man’s land but you know she’s she’s quite patient. Margeline Pierre when we watched her race two weeks ago, she was patient, she was relaxed, and she just went out and did her thing. So, she’s sort of used to racing a little bit of her alone because that’s what she did a couple of weeks ago. So, you know, she’s still got to just stick to what she knows. She knows she’s strong on the bike. She knows she’s strong on the run. Obviously, can she catch the front group? I don’t think so. But the big question mark is our rookie.
I mean, I think that’s still the question mark. Can she ride with Laura and Cat?
I think I think she will ride it with Laura and Cat. I think what’s going to uh be the question mark is just, you know, that last 40 km on the bike and then the marathon, right? Like it’s unknown territory for her. So, uh I think sometimes that first Iron Man ignorance is bliss a little bit um for some athletes. for other athletes, they’re like, “Whoa, this is way more than I expected.” There’s a lot to get right. Um, nutrition is such a massive um component when you step up to the Iron Man distance. I think the 70.3 is so similar to Olympic and so you can kind of almost stretch that. This is similar training really. And so it’s no surprise that she was so good over the 70.3 distance. Um, but yeah, I’m I’m very interested to see how that goes. But Margelain hopping on her bike here. She is about 145 down from the leaders onto the bike and in between her and then she’s around 220 up from the chases that are four plus minutes back.
Yeah. And we can see Cat Matthews right on our screen at the moment. Um I believe is that somebody right in front of her?
Yeah, it looks like she’s sitting in third. I think uh so love Seth was
first out of transition first out of transition and then Laura Phillip was right on her feet and uh yeah I mean this is where it’s you’re going to see like
that’s not Cat Matthews I don’t think
yeah that looks like uh is that Jackie Herring? Not sure. But I I think this is where you’re going to see like what the effects of the swim was um for au those top athletes like who had to swim really hard like if we were looking at um the stats.
This is Elvis Vissa on screen. Sorry to um interrupt you just for a moment just Vissa fans. That’s Elvis Vissa just hopping onto her bike now and she looks like she’s taken the lead of this
chase pack. Go ahead. So yeah, like how hard did Laura Phillip have to swim to stay in that pack? And it’s like how much energy did cat did Cat have to use because she led the swim? Obviously, if you’re leading the swim, you are using a lot more energy than sitting behind somebody and getting the the feet and the and the aerodynamics for uh the hydrodnamics of sitting on someone’s feet. I mean, it’s definitely way easier. You know, you try to swim around someone who’s in the lead. You have to use so much energy. Even though you think, you know, you’re going a little bit slower. You try to get around that athlete. It’s really, really hard. That’s Sarah Spank on screen in the purple and green. Uh, and Annie Richman in all black. So, that is a dangerous trio right there. El’s Vissa uh leading that group, that chase pack. But we are now I think up with the front women and that is Sang Love Seth. Yes.
In third. We have
Laura Phillip leading and I think that’s Cat Matthews second. Um yes that it looks like
that’s Laura Phillip second I think on the pinky color. But as we come up beside him we’ll be able to call them out. Nonetheless we know that those other three women Jackie Herren was just a little bit behind out of transition. and she had a sort of a slower transition and I would have loved to have seen her out with these women. She might be just hanging in there um you know a few 100 meters or so back and hopefully she can bridge back up because this train has left the station.
Yeah, I think that’s going to be a tough ask for Jackie, you know, just losing that little bit time at a transition. I mean we know Cat Matthews can ride the bike, we know Laura Phillip can ride the bike and then it’s Lost Seth. It’s like I mean she had such a fantastic race not too long ago. It’s like but I really don’t think she’s going to have the power and the legs to be able to do that. And that’s Danielle Lewis that we see. And I mean she’s going to be dangerous. How far I mean she had such a great race finishing second at St. George 70.3 not too long back. That’s that’s really good for her and very good.
I actually got a chance to talk to her a little bit more a couple of weeks ago and she’s the type of athlete that like really thrives on when she has success, she will get motivation from that and she will thrive on it. But then if she has a disaster in a race, it really compels her to go back and figure out what went wrong. So I think in the mental game, she knows that she’s just got to keep passing people. It’s like at some point she always says, “I’m going to catch someone.” And it may not be in the first 10 miles. It may be not in the next 100 miles. And Danielle Lewis had a solid start to the year actually. She was second in Iron Man 70.3 St. George, 11th, sorry. and she was uh had a better race in Oceanside as well this year. So, she started off the year uh really well in terms of Pro Series points. Uh looking to add to those points here today and I I think a solid swim. I think she’ll be happy with that. Um and now, you know, she’ll go to work on the bike and she just goes from strength to strength. Um she raced Iron Man Texas and didn’t end up finishing. She just said she just didn’t feel um very good on the day and so I I think she pulled out of that one which will be a good thing because it saved her legs. Um and she you know hopefully can put together a really great Iron Man performance here in Hamburg.
No, and you know it was a very huge a big disappointment for her in Texas, but you know to to rebound and figure it out and and get on the podium in St. George, I mean that again it’s all about confidence, right? It’s like when you’re doing all that offseason training, you know, it’s like you’re sort of hoping that you’re going to make these big gains for the season. And it’s like, you know, we haven’t seen um Cat I mean, sorry, we haven’t seen Laura Phillip until like last week.
Yeah.
To see what what sort of race fitness we had. And you know, we’ve only seen Cat Matthews once. Um Danielle Lewis has this is going to be race number three. Um, she started four. I mean, Ann Riceman, you know, she’s in great form and she’s so strong on on the bike. And, you know, then we’ve got to talk about hometown advantage. I mean, it definitely has an impact. And I think that is going to be in Laura Phillips favor today as well. So, if we were if we were going to like bet who was going to like have the best percentages of doing well, I mean, Cat Matthews, current record holder. world record holder, the fastest time ever by almost 10 minutes. But then you got Laura Phillip, our current Iron Man world champion. Jackie Herring, of course, defending champion.
Defending champion. Um Laura Phillip has won on this course before.
Um and
SVG is the big question mark I think. Um but yeah, Annie Richman, another German athlete, uh won the Iron Man down in South Africa and won Kajiml at the end of last year too. and she really just is um coming into her own at the Iron Man distance. It feels uh she’s around 4 minutes back now, but a phenomenal cyclist. I expect her to again hard to say that she’s going to make up ground. Uh even if she holds even with these women, I think uh that’ll be a great day because again uh this is the best women in the sport. You know, the only other athlete that comes to mind is sort of Taylor Nib. Um I’m I’m sure there are others, so don’t be mad at me if I didn’t say your name, but um yes, some of the best cyclists in our sport um right here. And they are battling battling it out. It’s it’s going to be incredible to see how this bike goes. Like does Cat just take it out and try to um burn um Laura Phillips legs and just say, “Cat, you know, keep up with me if you can.” Does Laura just sit in and say, “Okay, you I’m happy for you to lead. I’m just going to watch you all day long. Um, I think this is going to be a really interesting matchup. And yeah, we can we can we can say that, you know, you’re just going to follow, but you know, it’s like it’s an Iron Man. So, at some point, you know, you’re going to be feeling good, they’re going to be feeling not so good. So, it’s it’s going to be really interesting. But, you know, what we know about both Cat Matthews and Laura Phillip is they know how to prepare.
Yes, they know how to prepare. And I think that’s really important when they are prep preparing themselves for a race. It’s like and the things that those two athletes have done this season, they’ve gone and looked at their coaching and they’ve decided to go with individual coaches. So Cat has a bike coach cuz she feels that that’s an area where she needs to work on. And Laura Phillips sort of done the same. you know, they’ve decided that they need to work on their weaknesses and feel like they want somebody to oversee the program, but they want specialist coaches. And it’s a little bit of old school, right? Back in the day, it’s like we we I had specialist coaches. So, it’s definitely amazing how it’s sort of coming around that like there’s a quite a few athletes now that are engaging these specialty coaches. And I think it does bring an outside perspective that’s slightly different um than a triathlon coach, but I still think it’s really important that the the coaches all work together. And I mean that’s having good team support. I mean, you had good team support. I had good team support. It’s really really important that that that everyone sort of works together. And you all have your the same goal is to get the best that you can out of your athlete. But you have to have an understanding of swim, bike, and running because it’s not just a swim and it’s not just a bike and it’s not just a run.
And as we speak, we had uh SVG Love Seth go around um Cat Matthews, but now Cat uh it looks like she was getting a little too close. So the motos come up and she’s going to have to make that pass um to make sure she doesn’t get a penalty. But uh yes, these three women all very strong cyclists and Cat wasn’t interested in having love uh solving uh leading at all. Uh I did I did see Cat take a peek over her shoulder and and take a good look at Laura Phillip and All right. Yep, she’s here. We’re locked in a battle and uh this is going to be a fierce fierce battle today. And uh looking at Jackie Herring, she’s already lost about 47 seconds in the first seven or eight kilometers. Um so these ladies are not um wasting any time um at the start of this bike. Uh Jackie of course had came out of the water with the lead three. Um so it was a group of four out of the water. Jackie was just a little slower through transition but um now she’s sitting in fourth place just off the back of these three women.
And and again you know transitions are like the fifth discipline. People say, you know, nutrition, nutrition is the fourth, but there’s a fifth discipline that everyone forgets about and transitions. And that’s where like Jackie Herring was right up there and just having that slower transition. You you miss the energy of being in the front pack. It’s so much better. Uh we’re going to have a look at the Zoot bike course map. It’s a twoloop 180 km 112 mile bike course. The new bike course includes many sections from the last few years with the western loop peppered with sights. I’m going to get these words wrong. Along the spiser’s heart, the lenders zroen and the fish market. On the eastern loop, the course goes through industrial areas such as the wander books before heading to the main dyke. Following the dyke, the course passes through the via and the marsh land and takes you back to the city center by the burgdadorf. I completely did not say those words correctly, but I did my best. So, here here’s here’s a a little um regional language for you. So, in this part of Germany, um when you’re out riding or running or when you want to say hello to someone, it’s mo.
Oh, yeah.
Yes. It’s bo when I uh Yeah. And it’s funny because then if you go to Berlin, they don’t use um mo. So there’s
what do they say in Berlin?
Hello. It’s basically mo is just you know hello. But yeah, it’s like welcome hello. So a lot of the houses in this part also have like little signs with mo and you can get like t-shirts and sweatuit but it’s very popular in this region and it’s not used in other regions. A lot of racing coming up. We are in Hamburg at the European Championship. What do you want?
Uh, you know what’s that uh really good non-alcoholic beer I keep hearing about?
Do you have that really great non-alcoholic beer that I keep seeing?
Do you have a non-alcoholic beer that actually
actually tastes good? It’s athletic. You’re holding it.
You mean athletic? You’re looking at it. I think you mean athletic. It’s a funny ask for it. You know, and we know the thing about challenging yourself is you’re always looking for what’s next. Welcome back to the 2025Qarat Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Champion. ionship. The ladies are now onto the Zoot bike course. We are around 10 kilometers in. We have a race on our hands. We have Cat Matthews, Laura Phillip, who we were hoping to see go headto-head and they are going headtohead here today. Swam together. We also have uh Sveg Love Seth in that group as well. Jackie Herring just off the back of that around a minute back in fourth. And then Margeline Pierre down at 3:30, Annie Richman at 4:30. Margeline’s losing a bit of time at this uh this point. But um we have an incredible race on our hands. We certainly do, Reinnie. And and that’s quite that chase pack um after when we see uh Pierre Riceman, Visa. Um they’re around that that 430 mark. So they definitely have a lot of work to do. And you know, this Hamburg bike course is known for being flat, but it’s actually not easy. Um, it’s not easy because of those technical turns. Obviously, the um the sections inside the the city um can make the surface a little bit rougher. And then today though, they’re lucky because the winds are going to be very minimal. So, I think that’s going to help all the athletes have fast times out there. Um, of course it’s all about being in the arrow bars as much as you can. This course is going to be relentless for that. I mean, there’s no real hills to get out of the saddle. Um, so you sort of got to manage that effort all day long. I mean, that’s what it’s going to be about. Just like making sure that, you know, the conditions are cool. So, you have to stay on top of your hydration because you’re not going to want to drink because you aren’t going to be sweating. Although, the humidity is quite high uh for for this race, which so I always find that when that humidity is a little bit higher, even though the temperature is only going to be around like 17°, it’s still quite warm.
Yeah, absolutely. Uh the storms that rolled through this morning uh delayed the start, but um at the lead of the race, we have Cat Matthews, Laura Phillip, and SVG Love Seth. And a fighting chance presented by Hoker as our race week series that pulls back the curtain and gives you a behindthescenes look at everyday lives of elite triathletes around the world. This week, we spent time with Solving Love, Seth. success.
Thank you. Was it a fan of yours?
And now he is. I don’t think he knew who he was, but he knew a hug. So, uh, that’s the most important thing. Feeling good. Feeling uh relaxed right now. But uh will maybe just get worse. I don’t know. But um I really enjoy the vibes around the iron iron man races. Actually, after the Olympics, I I just realized that I wanted to try something new and I have obviously already done some 17.3s and I just decided to go all in for the long and little distance this year and I’m really really happy about that decision. I think a course like this might suit me. It’s uh really flat and really fast. But I think also since it’s so flat, it’s you should really be arrow all the time on the bike and um I haven’t really practiced that a lot. It would be exciting to see if I’m actually just able to hold that position. Um like Cat said on the press conference today that um the race starts with 10ks to go and I guess that’s really unknown territory for me like how it feels when it’s 10k to go. So, uh, it could go either ways. I think the game plan is to try to just have an even pace most of the time. And if I see somebody I want to catch, maybe I can go harder for some periods. But, and on the run as well, it’s um, I think I want to like try to go out quite like hard in a way. Um, and just see if I can hold it and if I blow up, I blow up. So, we’ll see like which uh, which tactic I go for, if I go for the like blowoff tactic or the safe one. So, we’ll see what happens on Sunday. Well, that was definitely very, very interesting, Renie. I’m going to either go for the blow up or I’m I’m not. And I think that’s that’s probably the hardest thing when you are stepping up to an iron man distance. It feels so easy. The fast feels easy.
Oh, yeah.
But it’s like until it doesn’t.
Exactly. But, you know, you never know. It’s like, you know, somebody who has so much leg speed coming into the race, but you know, as we know, this race really doesn’t happen until those last miles on the bike. And and then the marathon is another showcase of did you go too hard on the bike? And I always laugh at people. I don’t laugh, but um I always say to to people, it’s like, well, what was your bike split? And they’ll say, I pred my bike split. Well, what about your runs? I didn’t pee. Well, maybe if you go a little tiny bit slower on the bike, you know, you’re going to get closer to that run split. And I think that’s the biggest mistake that a lot of athletes make.
Yeah, that’s the that’s the challenge, right? Like figuring out how fast can I bike and still run well. Like that’s the, you know, the knife’s edge that you run up against. So, we’re watching Henrique Goober here on screen. She’s in F18 on that canyon. She’s a little ways down, though. She’s probably around 10 minutes back. So, um yeah, 11 minutes back um at the 10 or 7k mark. So, uh one of our German athletes here. But, um going back to yeah, finding that finding that pace like what pace is, um you know, the pace that I can hold for the for the bike that’s not going to you know, impact that run too much. You know, you want to go as fast as you can in the bike and run together. So finding that sweet spot um with the bike split so that you still can unleash an incredible marathon off the bike.
No. And yeah and as I said, you know, when you are coming from a a short distance background, it feels so easy because you know, you do dial it back a certain percentage. That’s that’s for sure. And it’s like, you know, you’re in there like, oh, it’s just like easy.
Yeah.
And then all of a sudden, as you said, it’s it’s not. And you know, it’s a little bit the same when they eventually get to the run. It’s like another telltale sign that you know, you get off the bike and you know, your legs feel super heavy and super tired. And then some athletes like get off the bike and it looks like they’re running a 5K and and not a marathon as we just saw Cat Matthews speed past.
She looked a little frustrated. You saw um you come around Laura Phillip and and she kind of like took a look at Laura. I don’t know if she said any words, but she sort of seemed a little bit frustrated. I think uh you know, we saw her AFC um episode while she was in the swim and you know, her goal was to swim away from Laura and then you know, put more time into the bike and never see her at all um all day. And I think she’s going to be seeing her a lot all day long. Um so yeah, I mean I I I think that’s fine. Cat will be game on. You know, bring it on. Let’s let’s do this. And you see all the the roads are a little bit full of water. So, this is where I would be nervous. Um cuz when it’s wet like this, flat tires generally happen more often. Um we had, you know, a delayed start by 45 minutes this morning cuz we had a significant thunderstorm. Um some significant weather roll through the area. So, the athletes uh were delayed 45 minutes and we’re seeing the effects of that with uh the wet roads here now. Hopefully, it looks like the rest of the day it’ll be uh clearer. So perhaps on the second lap it’ll be a little bit uh clearer. But uh yeah, when I see wet roads it makes me a little nervous for flat tires and things like that. So hopefully fingers crossed I probably shouldn’t have said that cuz now maybe I’ll jinx someone. But um that’s something that I would be concerned about. Well, I was actually going to say at least in Germany um it’s everything’s quite clean on the roads. They really do a nice job with keeping the streets quite clean, but you are in a big city and I mean there is a a risk but I think because of the technology with the wider tires, the lower pressure um with everything that goes into um the tires to if you do get a flat unless it’s like huge. I mean these most of them are going to not be riding clinches.
Um they’re definitely
tubeless. So I think that’s not as an issue but you know we have seen early in the season you know athletes getting punches and it’s like something that you don’t want to wish on anyone and you know you it doesn’t matter how much you prepare things can happen and but I think the roads are going to be drying up pretty quickly so we should see less wet roads particularly as uh the the temperature warms up a little bit but Yeah, it’s one of those things mechanically you never want any of the athletes to happen and you know in this type of race and because of the Iron Man Pro Series it’s like you better be efficient if something like that happens of changing your tire because you know in this type of race it’s like you can still get back in it. I mean, yeah, there’s there’s quite a few athletes that, you know, you maybe not be able to catch back up to if you do lose time, but it’s like we’ve seen so many times that, you know, if you can change it quickly, you can get back going and and still win the race. And so, speaking of clinches versus tubless, uh, the tubless tires are not easy to change. Um, and so,
no, because you got to unseal them first.
You you got to unseal them. It’s it’s a real pain. So I I I don’t think any of these women would change. I I think they probably
they have a plug.
They That’s the only really but hopefully um there’s neutral support on course. So then you know that’s probably the saving grace for you know for these athletes if anyone does get a flat tire. But I think if you know if uh Laura or Cat got a flat um I don’t know. I mean, I I know these athletes would go out and finish the race, but Cat I mean, Laura’s not looking to try and win the IM Pro Series. She just wants to go and defend her IM World title and have a great performance in Kona. Um, she’s said that she’s building to Kona. This doesn’t expect anything magic today. Uh, although she does look really great right now. Um, but does Cat, you know, have to race another Iron Man if she, you know, and obviously this is all just like, uh, if what if, but if she got a flat tire, she’s on the side of the road for 10 minutes, is it worth her continuing on? Um, that’s, you know, just something to ponder. But of course, you know, nothing for her to worry about now. She looks great. No flat tires in sight. Um, just mentioning that because of the wet roads. Um, and we are underway in this bike course. In the Zoot bike course, the athletes are nearing the 20 km mark. As you look on the bottom of the screen, you’ll see the light gray over the sort of darker gray. Um, and that is where the athletes are. They’re coming up to an aid station shortly and then we’ll see our next time check. We do have GPS working as well for this race, so we’ll be able to um see real time data, but uh the the timing splits are on the bottom of the screen as well there. So, two laps of the bike course and they’re on lap one. And you know, talking about Laura Phillip, I mean, she says that because this is a very flat course and that good pacing on the bike is going to be so important for a strong run. And she was actually expecting group dynamics. And she um is curious to see if she can stay patient and play a smart game. and uh she’s definitely being patient right now and playing a a smart game. So, it’s always interesting to to see the perspective of the professional athletes and you know, she understood coming into this race that the run was going to be important, but the significance of the group tactics, which what we’re seeing right now, um each one of these athletes uh are surging to the front. We’ve seen quite a few changes. I think Laura Phillip is probably the one that’s being a little bit more conservative in getting to the front. I think she’s sort of like as she said, she’s she knew that there was going to be group dynamics, so she’s trying to be a little bit more patient. I think Cat Matthews isn’t being as patient. I mean, Cat just wants to get out and I think just find her rhythm, her pacing, and she doesn’t want to deal with the group dynamics.
Yeah, she definitely seems the more aggressive of the two. I think uh Laura Phillip at this point seems like she’s happy to, you know, sit in uh let uh Cat do the pacing. And honestly, I don’t think Cat would allow Laura to do the fa pacing. Cat uh just wants to put the pedal to the metal. Um, and you know, part of that is if you know you can hold a higher uh power output um than a competitor, but that competitor is trying to hang with you, that’s going to take a little bit of the sting out of possibly a little bit of the sting out of Laura Phillips’s legs. Now, again, Laura Phillip doesn’t have an Iron Man in her legs from five weeks ago. And Laura Phillip is also one of the best cyclists in our sport. So, um, it’s just shakes out to who is having the day today. No, exactly. Because like when you get out there, it’s like you’ve just got to deal with the day that you’re given. And you know, obviously in the swim, Cat was like happy to lead. And you know, as we said, you know, we had a delayed start. Um Cat actually stopped a few times. We’re not sure what was going on. So, you know, she wasn’t happy or you know, she wanted to make sure or see who where everyone was. And and now on the bike, it’s the same thing. she’s making sure she’s staying at the front of the race. And this is what she did in the swim as as soon as somebody sort of came up and took over the lead, then she would back off a little bit, but then we’d see her be aggressive again, Reinnie, and get to the front of the race. Yet again, right now we have Cat Matthews leading this race, Laura Phillip in the lead, as well as Solvang Loveth at that’s three are leading this race. Jackie Herring and Yanna Arens uh round out the top five. We are underway in the zoo bike course. Meet Kicker Run from Wahoo. A revolutionary indoor running experience where you just run and your feet set the pace. We call it run free mode. A gamechanging technology that allows you to change speeds naturally just like you do outdoors. You can even let popular training apps control the speed and grade for you. Kicker run by Wahoo. It’s time to run free. Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship is brought to you by Zoot Sports, the original triathlon brand delivering comfort, speed, and performance since 1983. and by Hoka fly human fly. And MJ, we just saw a replay of Johanna Arent’s um lost a bottle and so she opted to go back and get it. And again, because it was accidental, she would not have received a penalty, but because it, I’m sure, held a bunch of nutrition that she needed, she decided to U-turn, go back and pick it up. So, um I think she was riding up on Jackie Herring, too. we’re about to uh receive the next time split on those women, but um it did look like she was riding with somebody else. Um so we’ll see if it was Margeline Pierre or Jackie Herring um that she was riding with. But uh yeah, interesting. Um you see you see that happen a lot in the men’s races and no one ever stops and picks up their bottles, but in the women’s race I feel like um they’re more likely to stop and pick it up. And again, she probably lost 30 seconds. Uh, would you say, MJ?
Yeah, because by the time you stop, turn around, take your foot out, pick up the bottle, get clipped back in, get the momentum going, it’s it is significant. And it’s like, you know, you spend so much time and effort getting to someone and then have to like do it. But then I think for her it was a smart choice if she’s using Pacific nutrition and you know we all know that nutrition is so important and you know on on this type of course and plus I think one thing that people forget about is like metabolically how you process calories is really important to know because some athletes can go at a harder pace and can have more calories and some athletes need to back off the pace. because they’re not absorbing the calories. So, I think it’s really important. I bring that point up because obviously she knows how many carbs are in that water bottle and she knows that that’s what she’s used to taking and she’s willing to like take that time deficit rather than trying to like rely on the next aid station. So, obviously it had significant nutrition in it. So,
yeah, I think I think so too. I think
she noticed it too. Yes. I mean, yeah, she saw it um flip out and you know, sometimes, you know, I’ve had races where that rear bottle’s flipped out and it was like, you know, 40k later when I needed that bottle and I go behind reach behind my saddle to find it and it wasn’t there. Um, that was a bit of a disaster. So, um, having the option and and 30 seconds on the bike, yes, it’s not great. It’s not ideal, but 30 seconds on the bike to get nutrition that you know your stomach can handle, that you know you can take in to then go and 30 seconds on the run is nothing, right? Like the back end of that marathon, if you haven’t um had your nutrition, then it it could be a mess. But we look at the Ruby transition one times. The three fastest females through transition were Elvis Vissa at 324, Sarasfank at 328, and Annie Richman at 332. And we saw those three women come through transition together. So, they were in a hurry in the Ruby transition one today. And I’m pretty sure they raced each other through that transition. I mean, they’ve gotten out of the water and they’ve seen, you know, those three. I mean, obviously, um, Riceman is super strong on the bike, so if I was slightly weaker, I would definitely make sure I for one either hung as much as I could in that transition and then try to like use her energy um, so that I’m feeding off what the power that she’s putting out. And I think that’s an really important thing to think about when you are racing as we look at Margeline Pier that you know it’s like people say oh how did you get dropped in that pack you know it’s like why didn’t you like stay with them or why all these things happen tactically but sometimes it’s like you just don’t have it. No, absolutely.
But then when you are in that group dynamic situation, it does change like your race plan because you’re not always going to be riding the pace you want to. Sometimes you just got to go for it. And I think that’s a that’s sort of sometimes the difference between those the age groupers and the elites. It’s like you have to at some point decide if you’re going to go with the race or you’re not going to go with the race. Absolutely. and we are on Margeline Pier and we caught up with her before the race. Let’s hear what she had to say. Hello, I’m Mareline Pier. I’m 25 years old. I’m a French pro triathlete and we are here in Hamburg for the Iron Man Pro Series European Championship. Uh, every race is different. So, I will reply no. But I’m super happy with the race in Exon Province and it’s going to be a full distance now uh with another stack field. So, it’s going to be different and I just want to race my own race. Um, I think it’s nothing fs me. Uh, I like to see where I am against a strong field, but it’s not something who will stress me. Uh, I just want to see where I am and how is my fitness.
It’s just your third eye this weekend. I’m afraid. Have you done anything different in training this time around? Um, not really. No. Uh, I made less less training I would say than before man Niss the world champion last year. So my fitness will rise also before Kona. I hope I’m going to have my qualification this weekend and to be able to grow also with my fitness in my training. I I think for sure uh they will reply yes. It’s something different when you race on your own country. you have a boost of confidence and you you know where you are. You you have something special and this drive me a lot during N and also during Exon Province. But uh yeah, I will try to be much like a German girl to have also a boost on Sunday. If I won this weekend, it’s not going to happen. But if I won, maybe I will try to do another Iron Man, for example, Lake Placey to try and to to go into the pro series. But no, Pro Series is going to be for the future. I love that from Margeline Pier. Um, Pro Series, uh, yeah, maybe, but no. Uh, she said if I, you know, won, if I won here in Hamburg, then yes, I would target the Pro Series, but I think because she’s so young, that’s a really smart approach. Um, she won, uh, her 70.3, so she has maximum points from 70.3. Of course, if she won here, then it almost would force a hand to be like, there’s so much money on offer. It’s worth like throwing your hat in the ring, adding another Iron Man um to the schedule and seeing how far up the pro ranks you can get. But again, you know, this is her third ever Iron Man. She’s 25 years old. Um and yeah, I think it’s just great to hear from her. And again, her and Love Seth have both won um 70.3s. Solving Love Seth has not stated that she’s um chasing the Iron Man Pro series, but I think a strong performance here today will shoot her up the rankings and then maybe tempt her to uh to try and uh add another Iron Man. And um well, also being her first Iron Man event, maybe, you know, maybe she loves it, maybe she doesn’t love it. Like that’s a big question. Most people when you cross the finish line, they don’t love it. They don’t love it at all. And then, you know, an hour later, the legs hurt a little less. Um and then you kind of remember how amazing um the whole day was and maybe then we’ll ask her if she wants to do the pro series.
So Reinnie, do you remember your first ever Iron Man?
Yes, absolutely. It was Kona. Was yours Cona?
No, my first one was uh Iron Man Florida.
Okay.
Yep. I had to qualify.
Yep.
And you got qualified through World Champs. So I got um I won the 70.3 Worlds and got to go straight to Kona. So yeah, my first Iron Man was Coner and then my second Iron Man was Coner. Um, so I didn’t actually race that many Iron Man throughout my career, but um, absolutely remember that first one. Well, here’s terrifying.
Here’s a question for you.
Who is the oldest first time female world Iron Man champion?
Would it be Natasha Badman? No. First time winner. Oh,
first time winner
you
in Kona. That would be me. Yeah.
But
first time winner
any Iron Man World Championship. I was 36.
Okay.
But I was born in September. And one particular person racing this race, Laura Phillip, when she won in Nice, she became the oldest ever first time Iron Man world champion.
Oh wow. How old is Laura?
She’s 36. 36. Yeah. She just turned 37.
Yeah,
I think she’s an April birthday and I was a September. So, uh yeah, I did not know that fact until um I actually was reading an article about Laura Phillips win last year in Nice. And yeah, and I was like, wow, I think I was like 36 when when I won. So, yeah, it’s like amazing when you look at Cat Mat uh Cat’s record, but then you look at Laura. Laura has had so much success as well.
Yeah. I mean, Laura Phillip has been an athlete that has been on the rise. I mean, she came onto this circuit and she was phenomenal just putting down ridiculous bike and run splits and um looking at some of her history, she was a rock climber growing up with which I actually didn’t even know. And she only she didn’t do any triathlon um at all until she was around 24. So, she started to learn how to swim at 24. Um, so yeah, I mean she had a whole, you know, life of other sports. Oh, her computer’s falling off.
SVG love set. Something’s falling off.
Yeah. Oh, her arrow bar has fallen off.
Oh, something has fallen off in the front of her bike. But it’s not good news for SVG. Love
and and Cat Matthews is going to take full advantage of that. I can tell you that now. Yeah, not her problem.
She’s like, “Okay, thanks. See you. Bye.”
Yeah. So, I’m not exactly sure what um I was trying to listen in um to what was going on, but that was uh Solve Love Seth with an issue. She was pointing to the front of her bike to the arrow bars. So, we’ll see um what that was. I thought it was a computer was falling off,
but it looked like the way the computer was turned. I think it’s more that arrow bar extension has come loose and
Yeah. So she needs mechanical help. So maybe she was trying to communicate that. But this is Jackie Herring here on the bike course. We are 27 30 km into this Zoot bike course and these women are flying. You know, and we know the thing about challenging yourself is you’re always looking for what’s next. You’re watching the 2025Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship. That’s Margeline Pierre on screen. She is sitting in fifth place right now. We have a race up front. Cat Matthews Laura Phillip. We just saw Salvang Lovith has a problem with her arrow bar. We’re not sure if it’s loose or if it’s broken. Um so she was um gesturing towards her um arrow bars just a moment ago and we’re going to look at that now. Yeah, it looks like it’s kind of turned to the side. You see her computer facing out. Um hopefully it’s just Yeah, you see her now. She’s trying to um ride as error as possible cuz she’ll need to to stick with uh with Cat Matthews. But it’s just turned out. So what she needs is an Allen key. Um, so hopefully there’s mechanics um on course that can help her out or
I mean, yeah, if it’s not loose, it may be broken. Maybe one of the bolts broken, but typically, you know, if the athletes did travel into the into the race, um, obviously that wasn’t tightened enough or it has broken.
So hopefully they can get it sorted. But yeah, you can see like she’s trying to do her best to stay as arrow as she can. Um, but yeah, at some point hopefully the mechanics can get to her, but you know, at at some point she’s going to have to stop and fix it. If the mechanic comes up, there’s no other way to fix that. So, she will lose some time when that happens. And I mean if she can keep riding and deal with it, but you know that’s a lot to deal with for 112 miles and it’s very very early in the race and it’s very very unfortunate. I mean, and that’s one of the things that you never want to happen, you know, if it is something that, you know, you just didn’t tighten down because the issue now these days when you do travel with your bike because the extensions are so much longer than traditional um arm extensions that they don’t usually fit inside the bike cases anymore. So, you have to completely completely Yeah. which makes for things like this to happen a little bit more frequently unfortunately for the athletes and you know it’s one of those things that you know it’s like you can double check double check and double check and it’s amazing sometimes how screws can come loose and you’re like I’m sure I tightened that up.
Yeah. So yeah, I’m sure she sort of was a little frustrated, but I still think it was like she she hasn’t lost her composure, and I think that’s good.
I don’t know if she’s resigned to the fact of I’m just going to ride like this for the rest of the race. And we’re only, you know, probably 3540 km in. So that’s 140 km of riding. Yes.
Um and you know, she’s not in her arrow bar. She’s not comfortable. that shoulder, left shoulder is going to feel very uncomfortable in the next 2 hours. Um,
I’m wondering if it’s broken. If it’s broken, then
it’s going to she has to This is what she has to deal with for the rest of the bike. If it’s not broken, then she needs help. She just Yeah, I mean, I absolutely would stop, I think. Um, lose what you lose a minute, two minutes, probably more like two two to three minutes uh with, you know, tightening that bolt down.
Yeah. because you’ve got to know what size bolt the mechanic’s going to have to know what size bolt and it’s not an industry standard. One bolt fits everything. So knowing what that Allen key size is normally you probably have to take off the actual pad part of the arm rest. It’s look it’s going even further sideways. So I think at least she’s got a good attitude about it.
Yeah. I mean, Reinnie, what would you would you ride one arm arrow or would you stay on your base bar if you were in this situation?
I would do what she’s doing. I mean, you’ve got to tuck as much as possible. When you’re sitting up, yeah, when you’re sitting up, you’re just um you’re throwing watts away. You’re you have to push just more watts to to sit in that um upright position. So, I would get as low as I could. Um hang in there. I mean, it seems like it’s it’s continuing to sort of drop to the side and she’s a couple of times she’s tried to pull it back around. Um, yeah, I’m not exactly sure uh what the issue is. Um, and wow, I I mean, if it is broken and she has to ride like it looks, she’s riding past Cat.
She’s like,
I think what happened just now as well is that she just drifted into the draft zone. So, we have Race Ranger as with all the Iron Man Pro Series races. Um, and she we’re looking back at Jackie Herring here. Um, and I think that’s Margeline Pier coming up around Jackie. And look at the difference in the cadence and the power. That’s a significant difference. She’s laying down a lot way more power than what Jackie was riding at.
Yeah. And and when you come up on an athlete, Margeline has made up a few minutes on Jackie from the start of the bike. Uh Jackie not riding as well as I expected her to, but maybe she’s pacing herself. Um it looks like she’s put Margeline put in a sizable gap just in that pass too. So Margeline uh on a mission. We saw her ride really well in Axel Provence just two weeks ago and it looks like she’s taking that same aggression here out here in Hamburg. But again, we as I was mentioning earlier, we are using race ranger at this race. So, as we were looking at solving Lob Seth a moment ago, I think with her arrow bar situation, she wasn’t paying as much attention and I think she rolled into the draft zone. As soon as that light turns red, you’ve got to make the pass. You have 25 seconds. I don’t think she wanted to make the pass. It’s not a good idea to make the pass when you aren’t in your row bars and um put down those extra watts. I think, you know, just hanging in there and and sitting sitting behind Laura and Cat is probably her best bet right now. But I think yeah, she drifted in. She had to go around.
Well, yeah, cuz she was a little distracted trying to tell the camera crew what was going on
and then Yeah, I think you’re right. I think she just got in that danger zone of where she just had to make the pass. And I mean it still looked very easy cuz you know it you know it’s sometimes it’s always like when you do pass someone you know you have to go so much faster. Is she stopping in?
It looks like she’s stopping at an aid station. No, maybe not. Just going to get some hydration and carry on her way. She dropped that. So do she’s not having she’s not having um you know the perfect but it does look like I don’t know if cat is behind her this I don’t see them in front so um but yeah she rolled through that a station looked like she was going to pull over which was you know her arrow bars flipped over to the side so wouldn’t be surprised but no she was just looking for some aid.
Yeah here’s Danielle Lewis on our screen right now. Um she hasn’t made up any time. She’s actually lost a little bit time to our lead group. She’s sitting in 12th place right now at 9:32 back. Um she actually has a new bike sponsor this year. Um and uh she definitely has uh made a few changes. She feels like this one this bike is way lighter than her previous bike. Um but yeah, she looks very very arrow. um very comfortable and that’s one thing that I was going to say about lost set the fact that you know you can still ride that one aerobar position as we look at Daniel Lewis because the extension of where you can re rest your arms is so much wider now and it’s so much snugger that you can really get in there and it’s always interesting have you ridden these this position before Rinnie
no I haven’t so this new position it’s like you can lock in, but you’re still very relaxed, like way relaxed. And it’s always interesting. Now, this season, you’ve seen a lot of changes with the arm angle. So, the last couple of years it was a little bit from the shoulder to the elbow was a little bit straighter. Now, you got that forward angle. And then, of course, they’re going even higher in um how many degrees? So they’re going well over 25° at the front, more like 30 to 45°. So yeah, there’s been like just the wind tunnel test has shown that you want to get that stack height a little bit higher. You want to get the angle from the shoulder to the elbow a little bit more forward. And then as I said, closing that gap between the helmet and the hands are so different. Like when we go back and look at the positions we used to ride, we’re like, “Oh my goodness, why didn’t we think of that?” But it’s just it’s not just
there’s more access to wind tunnels. I think
it’s not even it’s not even that. It’s the fact that these arrow bar extensions and arrow bars are they’re custom made for a lot of the times. Um these ones in particular are just um anyone can buy them. But the fact is you can adjust them. the angle riser kits. We never had any of that. We didn’t have the spacer kits. We didn’t have the riser kits and we didn’t have manufacturers who are actually making those arm extensions so much more uh so much longer. So I think that’s I mean yeah aerodynamics and testing is playing a path forward but it’s also the manufacturers have now made products where you can get in these positions and it doesn’t matter if you’re a professional or you’re an age grouper everyone now has access to this equipment and that’s why we’re seeing so many fast times as well. I mean Reinnie you I can’t imagine how fast you would have ridden in this position. I mean, you already rode like so fast, but it’s significantly faster and you’re using less energy and it’s very comfortable. Yeah. I mean, comfort, I think, is the big the big factor, right? Being able to stay in that position, especially on a course like this when it’s flat. So, being in the arrow bars. Uh, SVG Love Seth mentioned that in her in her sound bite. Um, you know, I’ve never done an iron man and I, you know, this is a very flat course. Uh, obviously coming from a short course, riding a road bike, being upright. Uh, she hadn’t really done the training and now she has to ride with one arm. Um, so if that wasn’t a big enough challenge for her, now she has to navigate a broken or um a mechanical certainly issue with that arrow bar and ride with, you know, basically one arm um and one arm on the base bar.
Yeah. And I mean, as she said, she hadn’t got a lot of practice in the in the arrow bars. And I mean, it it is a huge difference. If you’re not practicing in that arrow position, it’s like I always encourage my athletes to do like their intervals, even on the hills in the arrow bars, because it’s slightly different muscles and the pressure you got to put on your glute and your glute meat and your hamstrings, it’s significant. And then, you know, you don’t want to have back issues if you aren’t used to that. Obviously, the more older you get, you know, you’ve got you’ve got to that flexibility starts to go away and she’s young. And that’s what I was going to say. It’s like she’s not going to have the same amount of problems. But yeah, it’s really important that you do spend time in that arrow bar position and at the watts that you’re going to be pushing because that’s another thing, you know, it’s like having that opportunity to push that amount of watts for that this amount of time, you’ve got to adapt to it. Otherwise, you know, you are going to have when you get off that bike, you’re going to look like an old woman. You and I might look like an old woman. I don’t think she’ll look like an old woman. um coming off the bike. But yeah, you’re right. Like after, you know, hour two, hour three, hour four rolls around and you’re, you know, you’re not in even the, you know, position you’d hope to be in. Um that just sort of sets off a chain reaction and like, you know, you’re putting your weight on one elbow, how does that affect your your back, your hips? Um and, you know, that sort of, you know, can show up later in the day. Um but yeah, we are back with Margeline Pier and she is riding very well. She’s moved up to fourth place, passing Jackie Herring a moment ago. Jackie Herring, of course, was out of the water with the lead three and she’s dropped back now to fourth place. Jackie won this race last year and uh got into Hamburg uh about a week ago to get used to the the the altitude, the um the jet lag. Uh of course, traveling east is always a little bit tough. So, um, her husband has joined her and her two kids are are back home watching. Well, probably not watching cuz it’s well past their bedtime right now. Yes, I’m sure they’re they’re they’re tucked in and uh I’m sure when they wake up, I’m sure they will be straight on to our live coverage, checking to see how mommy is doing. But yeah, like um Margelid is doing a fantastic job. I mean, she’s made up a little bit of time on on the field behind her. She definitely isn’t making up any time on our leaders, Loses, U, Matthews, and Phillip. Um, Jackie Herring is definitely fallen back a little bit. Um, Sphenx is moving up. I think she’s going to be the next one that’s going to pass Herring, of course. and Riceman is in that group. Another German athlete. El’s Visor is hanging on nicely. Um just under five minutes behind our leaders. Um and then we of course we have the American Dan Danielle Lewis um sitting at 950. One thing I do notice about Danielle Lewis when she races, it’s like at the start of the races on the bike, she tends to lose a little bit of time. I saw the same thing happen in St. George. And then all of a sudden, I don’t know if she gets a second wind or the fact that, you know, she is a strong biker and she possibly sticks to her race plan a little bit more, being a little bit conservative at the front end and then really pushes hard as we see her on screen right now. Really pushes hard towards the back end.
Yeah. And speaking of Danielle Lewis, we caught up with her before the race and let’s go over and see what she had to say. Hi, I’m Danielle Lewis. I am from Boise, Idaho, and we are here in Hamburg, Germany for the Iron Man European Championships. So, it’s been a really it has been a really good start to the year regards to my 70.3s. Much better than last year. So, it’s nice to have those kind of ticked off for the Pro Series. So, now the focus is on the full distance and getting some good points um with the FO. And yeah, I Iron Man Texas didn’t go how how it was planned. Um, I was fit and ready for that race, but I’m still fit and ready for Hamburg. I’ve done a good proper taper for this race and I’m ready to go. Um, everything is been going phenomenally in regards to swim, bike, and run. So, I’m just excited to race it here. The This is a fast course, so it’ll be a great venue to test the speed. In regards to swim, being a wet suit swims good for me. Helps just not that being a strength of mine. Helps me stay a little bit more connected to the field. Um, the bike is a fast course and it’s flat, it’s fast, my setup is fast. So, I mean, I’m just looking forward to that. There are quite a bit of turns out there, too. So, there are some technical bits. Um, and having a good cycling resume. I think that’ll play into my favor, too. Um, and then the run as well is a flat course. Um, but there are some technical bits in there, too, which I think will be nice just to mentally help mix it up. Um, but then also just help me with kind of just staying dialed into the race and yeah, it’s just going to be a good fast day, I think.
Wish you a good race.
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, always great to hear from our athletes and, you know, the thoughts and feelings prior to the race. Uh, Danielle Lewis had a solid swim. She was around six, six and change out of the water. So, a solid swim for her, but seems to be losing time to the front runners, but as you mentioned, McKily um will be pacing this bike really well and we expect to see her. She always sort of moves up in the, you know, the end of the bike and then just, you know, usually is stronger and stronger as the run goes on. So, we’ll be keeping an eye on Danielle for the rest of this race. Right now, she’s sitting in around 12th place. Um, and working hard.
Yeah. Yeah. And it looks like we have Cat Matthews and Laura Phillip and Cine Losfest who just went through 44.1 km and they’re sitting just under 40 kilometers an hour right now. So, uh it is fast. It is definitely a fast day out there with very little wind, a little bit higher on the humidity, about 76% humidity. Uh the roads have are starting to dry up really really nicely. So definitely um we might have a look and see what their predicted um bike split is when we go back and do some calculations. But yeah, it’s you know it’s one of those things when you are out on the course and you are racing and you are behind like Danielle Lewis is. It’s like you’ve got to stay on. you’ve got to stay motivated. And there was a little bit there was quite a gap between her and the and the female that was in front. I think it was like five minutes. So, she’s not going to have the advantage of having athletes around her, but she’s usually quite used to that. But and I think that’s some of the reason why I think sometimes she loses a little bit more time at the beginning of an iron man because she doesn’t have that group dynamics like we saw at the front of the race where we’ve been having like quite a few changes of leaders and that can help accelerate the pace and then we have that group that’s just a little bit behind and you have um Pierre who’s been making up ground you’ve got Annne Riceman’s who’s been making up ground. So, someone like Jackie Herring, if she can sort of like regroup and use them to sort of suck her along, then maybe she doesn’t get dropped from that that bike and then she won’t lose time. If she loses that pack, she’s going to lose a significant amount of time because she’ll be riding by herself.
Absolutely. And this is El’s Vissa on screen. Uh right now we have Annie Richman just ahead of her. This is the chase pack. This is that dangerous group. They’re not making any time on the front pack, but they’re only losing a little bit of time right now. We have um Annie, Jenny, El’s um in that group. So, a very strong group of women uh riding together here. And you’ll see the group dynamics going on here. But uh we are around 45 kilometers into this bike course. Right now, we got Cat and Laura and SV leading. I’m not here to sell you on this life. You already chose it. No shortcuts, no hype, just work. Same as you. Built to outlast, endure. 40 years in and we’re just getting warmed up. Welcome to the Ohana. Here’s Elizabeth in the middle of the perfect workout for her. To create it, we analyzed her biometrics and genetics, her recovery rate, injury risk, and aerobic potential, her recent training sessions, the temperature, humidity, and elevation, the demands of her next race, and billions of data points from athletes just like her. With Trid Dot, Elizabeth gets faster, faster, and what does she have to do?
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Trot, we do the technology, you do the training. Hey, hey, hey. What was really what was really interesting is when we were looking at the paces what the speed of the groups are. So the difference is about 1 kilometer an hour um the average right now and that may not seem significant but when you’re talking about 180 ks and you are riding one kilometer faster than everyone else you’re going to be slowly putting more and more time in in into the pack that’s chasing. And then you have the pack dynamics as we can see here. You know, you’ve got to be really careful that race rangers going to tell you exactly how close you are and you’ve got to make a pass. And this is where it gets a little complex because you make one pass and then you’ve got to make another pass and then you’ve got to make another pass and then another pass because there probably won’t be enough for you to slot in. So that definitely takes extra energy as well. So, as much as you want the energy of riding in the pack, you definitely have to stay really, really focused and make sure that you are riding within the rules. And we’re back with the lead of the women’s race. And that’s Solve Love Seth in the lead there. And she is in the lead. Um, which is surprising to me with that broken um arrow bar. I’ve I feel like And you can see it’s now completely upside down. She can’t even see her computer. So, she’s probably pushing very many watts, I’m going to guess. Um, but she doesn’t know because she can’t see that computer. You see it there? Uh, now it’s kind of on her hand on that left arm. Um, but in this position, I feel like I would go to the back and just sort of hang in there. Um, and
maybe that’s a little like not experienced enough to make like, you know, choices like that.
Yeah, maybe. And and the other thing is um Laura Phillip and Cat Matthews are two of the best in the world and like full respect to Solving Love Seth for for doing this, but I think it would be a better call for her to just pace off of them right now and sort of let them lead the way. They know how to pace an Iron Man. This is, you know, her first ever attempt at the Iron Man distance, but I guess she’s feeling good. And um yeah, she it’s like, you know what, this is not going the way that I’d hoped, but I’m just going to, you know, grit it out and and and see what uh
But you also saw her like shake her hand a little bit. It it can’t be comfortable. I mean, you have one hand that’s going to be sitting and one arm that’s going to be sitting a little bit higher, the other arm sitting a bit lower, so you’re dropping your shoulder. I mean, we’re still like so early into this bike ride. In addition to of course our pro aletes out there today, there are almost 3,000 age group triathletes competing. Among them are a number of triathletes using Tri Dot, the official training platform of Iron Man to get race ready. These tri dot athletes get the unique benefits of expert coaching and an AI powered training plans including predictive race day splits to guide their strategy. Today’s TR dot athlete is Josh Rugan. Let’s hear from Josh about his goals and strategy for executing his race plan today. Hi, I’m Josh Rugan from the UK Chester and I’m racing Iron Man Hamburg. I chose Iron Man Hamburg because of the culture of German racing. I’ve raced in Germany before. They’re always so well organized and the field’s just amazing at a German event. So, can’t wait to race. I’ve been using Trid Dot to prepare for this race. It’s been great for me. I have a very busy job and um it just keeps me accountable. Uh keeps me on track. It’s a great uh kind of user interface. Um just easy to use. My goals for race day, firstly to have fun. Uh I’ve got my family and friends here. Um, and it’s just great to be part of the Iron Man family. Uh, but I’d love to PB. Uh, I’d love to go under 10 hours today. So, I work with a coach called Sean out the UK. Um, he’s amazing. He’s always there. I’ve already spoke to him on the phone a couple of times whilst I’m here. He just keeps me accountable. Um, keeps me in check. Doesn’t let me do anything stupid and uh just make sure I keep doing it for the right reasons to have fun. For the rest of the season, um, I’ve got a 70.3 at Swansea uh, back in the UK. So, I’ll be racing on kind of home turf. Um, and I’ll just continue using Trid Dot. Um, I’ve seen myself kind of progress continuously using the platform. Um, and just continue to kind of enjoy myself and just try and be a better athlete. And we’ll be checking in on Josh’s progress later to see how close his actual times are to his predicted splits. At the end of today’s race, you can check Iron Man and try dot socials to see how Josh finished and to see his split times and total times. This is Annie Richman on screen. Uh she’s around fifth place right now. The group of Rishman, Vissa, um that is a powerful group as we’ve mentioned. They are not making up time. They’re riding around a kilometer per hour slower than the front group, but this is a very strong uh group of women. We have Pierre sort of sitting in no man’s land in between uh this group and the front three. It looks like Jackie Herring might be on the back of this group as well. Uh so El’s Vissa now on screen and talking about El’s Vissa. She is a Dutch professional triathlete and medical doctor whose remarkable journey from surviving a ship shipwreck to becoming an Iron Man champion has inspired many. So, she was on a ship in Thailand. Mind-blowing story. And the the ship basically went down. She had to swim for eight hours to an island and then wait to be picked up the next day just like the thing.
Can you imagine?
Can you imagine what’s going through your mind at that point?
I I can’t I cannot imagine.
Yeah.
In the water. My gosh. Like
Yeah. So, she is a tough a tough cookie to say the least.
Yeah. Here we have Cat Matthews taking over the lead again. And Reinnie, I just wanted to go in and see actually what their predicted bike split is. And it looks like um it’s 4:30 for Cat. And I just wanted to go back down to someone like Ann Riceman just to see what her predicted actually riding a few seconds faster at 429. So very very similar um speeds right now from that chase pack. Obviously Anne Riceman was a fair way out of the water. So only riding a few seconds faster than that lead group. Um, obviously I think that’ll change as we get further into to the race, but I think it’s always interesting to see what’s happening with the predicted bike splits because, you know, it’s early on. It’s like there’s a lot of group dynamics at the front and there’s there’s now that big group that’s the chase pack. And you know in a race as we both know you know the dynamics can hinder or help you. And I feel like that front group, I thought it was really interesting that sort of Cat Matthew sat back a little bit and if I was sort of going to get in her head and think what she was doing, maybe she was like, “Okay, I’m just going to let uh Losist do a little bit of work and then I’m going to make a big attack or the pace slowed down a little bit. it’s my turn to get it at the front. And that’s where the pack dynamics can really enhance that front group’s performance. If they can just keep the ball rolling and keep that pressure on, they’ll continue to put more time onto that pack that’s behind. And that’s where those group dynamics can be to your benefit. Making sure that everyone is getting to the front and if somebody slows down, you know, keep the pressure on. keep the pressure on.
Absolutely. Yeah. We have Jackie Herring on screen right now, our defending champion from 2024. She’s slipping down a little bit through the field. Um sitting in I think the Vista group has just passed her. So, she’s just sitting off the back of that group. But again, um, as you mentioned, MJ, I misspoke earlier. That group is ever so slightly taking a little bit of time out of the Cat Matthews, Laura Phillip, and Love Seth, Love Seth, um, trio. So, yeah, that’s Jackie Herring. She looks like she’s with that um that group. She wants to hang in there because this is a very powerful group. We got Vissa, uh, Richman, Spank, and Jackie um in this group. So, um, riding equal to the front ladies. So, uh, moving along really well.
No, I and I think you know, as you said, you’ve got some powerhouses in there and Riceman, um, Visa, uh, Mart Pierre, I mean, they are really pushing the pace and, you know, they need to push the pace because when you’ve got the likes of Philillip and Matthews up the road, that’s what you need to do. This What do you want? Hey, you know what’s that uh really good non-alcoholic beer I keep hearing about?
Do you have that really great non-alcoholic beer that I keep seeing?
Do you have a non-alcoholic beer that actually
actually tastes good? It’s athletic. You’re holding it.
You mean athletic? You’re looking at it.
I think you mean athletic. It’s that funny. Ask for it. Meet Kicker Run from Wahoo. A revolutionary indoor running experience where you just run and your feet set the pace. We call it run-free mode, a gamechanging technology that allows you to change speeds naturally, just like you do outdoors. You can even let popular training apps control the speed and grade for you. Kicker Run by Wahoo. It’s time to run free. The 2025Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship is well underway and we are looking at the lead trio. This is Laura Phillip. She is in this group of three. Cat Matthews is in there and SVG Love Seth. And if you’re just joining us, SVG has a little bit of a mechanical issue with her h with her arrow bar. It’s sort of the left one has flipped over to the side and it’s sort of it’s not ideal situation for her, but she is hanging in there and I’ll give her that MJ. It’s impressive um that she’s just going to continue on um in a not ideal uh position on the bike. Uh this group of women is holding even with the chase of Rashman, Visa, Spank, and Yenni Yanderek. Um and also Jackie Herring is in that group. Jackie did get out of the water with this lead trio and sort of slipped back a little bit on the early part of the bike and she’s now in that main pack. Margeline and Pierre is the athlete in between these two packs. uh sort of sitting around three plus minutes back but right now it’s these three and we were chatting MJ about you know the tactics of of riding with other women and knowing that really the contenders or the best runners in the field are in the front already. So, like how does that play? Um, you know, when you know, you’re talking about putting in the best bike split that, you know, everyone’s right there. There’s no point in trying to put time into Laura if you’re Cat Matthews cuz she’s in this pack. Um, I guess the only um thing you can do is ride really hard on the front and and try and make uh Laura’s legs hurt. But again, Laura is one of the best bikers in the field, too. So, it’s uh an interesting sort of you said it earlier, cat and mouse game and who’s the cat and who’s the mouse. But yeah, I mean we know from speaking to Laura earlier that she knew that it was going to be a group dynamic and then we know from what Cat has told us that she didn’t want to see Philillip anytime soon and that did not happen. So, it’s like when you think about that, I’m sure they all went around the scenarios. Well, I’m not sure Cat expected Philillip to be that close and to be within the sight so early. But, you know, that’s the thing about racing. It’s like you can think something’s going to happen and then doesn’t happen. So, you’re right in saying in this group, we have the best runners right now. Like if we look at these three athletes, we know that on paper Philip has the fastest run. Um we don’t know the big question mark is in on low what she can do but she can run a6 in a 70.3 and we both sort of agreed that surely she can run a 250 marathon but we don’t know. We’re just making an assumption there. So, when we look at what’s happening in this race, oh, it looks like someone’s getting um
a talking to. Yeah,
a very stern talking to. It doesn’t look like there’s been a card given, but I think he’s So, Love, Seth just went around Laura Phillip and I think he’s basically saying make, you know, you need to get out of that draft zone um in the 25 seconds. It does not look like he’s giving her a card, but he definitely has some words to say to Laura Phillip. And Laura was just in the lead and Love Seth when around her. So, yeah, I think yeah, just making sure they stay clean here. Um, and there is a rule. So, if you’re unfamiliar, uh, when an athlete passes you, you have 25 seconds to get back out of the draft zone. the draft zone is 12 m from the front of your wheel to the back of their wheel. Again, race ranger um will read red if you’re in that draft zone. It’ll be orange, sorry, blue if you’re between 12 and 14 m. And it’ll be orange if you’re plus 14 to 17 m behind. So, that’s a really great uh tool for the athletes and also for the refs to see, you know, who’s riding legal and who’s not. It takes a lot of the guesswork out for everybody. So, um, yeah, that was like nerve-wracking for Laura Phillip, I’m sure. Um, I think maybe he was saying, you know, you’re coming very close to getting a penalty. Um, if this keeps going on, then it’ll be a blue card. And of course, a blue card is 3 minutes, which is not something that anybody wants to see on um the raceourse. But, uh, we’re looking at F17. That’s Rebecca Onbury. um right now. Do you see where she is on the tracker? I think in 11th
11th place. 11th place.
Yeah. But yeah, it’s I I like the fact that the officials have come up and whatever they said, whatever it was, we’re assuming it was a draft thing. But whatever it is, I think sometimes it’s good to get communication and a warning. If it was like, hey, be careful. It’s like you’re really riding the line. And this is what I like about Race Ranger, right? It’s black and white. It’s going to tell you when you’re getting close and then it’s going to tell you when you’re getting closer and then it’s going to tell you you better make a pass otherwise you’re going to get a penalty. And you know, it makes it very clear and very easy for the referees to see exactly what’s happening. And the athletes have the exactly the same. They get the opportunity to know exactly. There’s no question whether you’re in the zone or out of the zone. It’s straightforward and very black and white. And yeah, I really like the fact that the marshals, whatever the conversation was, it is good that they are making sure that it’s a very clean race outside of what the race radar is intended to do. Yes. And we’re still with Rebecca Anderbury from the United Kingdom. She’s sitting in 11th place right now. And she’s riding very well. Sitting around, let’s see,
11th I think in 11th place. Yep.
Around almost 6 minutes back from the lead or right around that six minute mark. Riding super strong. No, definitely there’s a a few athletes who are definitely starting to move up right now and definitely, you know, we’ve seen like some big movements in that second pack and and that’s one of the reason why Jackie has sort of moved so far down the in now into 10th. So, she was fourth out of the water. She’s now down, our defending champion is now down in 10th place. um she’s riding probably about 30k uh average right now where those other athletes are into the 40 kilometers an hour and you know as we said when we saw how close like Ann Riceman was out of the water when we saw um Pierre just slightly off the back now it’s to her advantage because she’s quite a strong that you know she’s working with Riceman and then you got El’s visor who’s riding very very Well, um, and then you’ve got Sphinx, who’s another one in in that group. So, yeah, it’s quite a group of powerhouse cyclist and they are definitely moving quicker. Um, the averages right now are just moving quicker than our lead pack. And but I think you’re right when you think of strategy with those those three leaders, they are the best runners in in the sport. So, they are probably playing a little bit more into the tactics, but I still think it’s so early in the race because the fatigue level isn’t what it’s going to be in in the next 90 minutes. And I think everyone still feels good. Um, the chase pack feels good. This is not the danger zone. I mean, I think someone like maybe Jackie Herring, maybe she’s feeling a little bit more fatigued. um than the other athletes. So that’s why she’s dropping back or not quite as strong because Ann Riceman is one of the strongest bike riders. That’s for sure. Yeah. And just looking back on on the splits through the 60 km mark um it looks like that Richman Spank Vissa Herring um group are now around 3 minutes back. Uh so they were not Jackie Herring but Jackie Herring has attached herself to that group which is fantastic news for her. They’ve already put in a minute and a half into the front group of women. So that group is moving faster than anyone else on course. Margeline Pierre has also put a little taken a few seconds back. She lost a little bit of time from the start. She started at about 130 145 behind out of transition now and then she blew it out to over 3 minutes. Now she’s back in under uh 3 minutes, but she is basically intact with that chase. So Pierre, Richman, Spank, Vissa, Herring, and Yandik um are all riding together and sitting at around 3 minutes back from th that lead trio and they’re making inroads. So that’s um interesting. Again, I think there’s a little bit of um you know, that front group are sort of looking at each other and um you know, not riding perhaps as fast as they could. Um that being said, Richman, Spank, Vissa, Herring, um Pierre, all very good cyclists and motivated. I think that’s the big the big factor. They they have the three women out front and and they’re motivated to catch um those women. Um, and when you have a group of women that are very strong on the bike and motivated, that um can end up being a really good combination. So, uh, I think, you know, this is that chase pack we’re looking at now. Herring in, uh, that’s in the red kit, um, in that blue kit. I’m not exactly sure. I’d have to see a little closer with the number. Um but yeah, so that’s the Vissa Zank Rishman Pierre uh uh group which is the which has formed the chase. Yeah. And I mean, we’re talking tactics, and I mean, that’s what it’s coming down to right now. Like, what’s going through the heads and the mindset of our three leaders because, you know, obviously they’re working together, but then you look behind and that other pack is working even harder. And I think you’re right, it’s the motivation like this race is not over. and whether they’re getting some time checks or not, like right now they are the movers. They are moving through the miles, ticking it off. They’re committed to riding fast. It seems like they’re they’ve got their their stuff together. They’re willing to work together. And I think that front group is just a little bit more tactical. Ky
Yeah. I mean, yeah. They’re watching each other. They’re seeing what’s happening. Um, who’s leading. I think Laura Phillip is sort of the one that’s still a little bit more conservative compared to the other two athletes, but then I see Cat Matthews has dropped back a little bit as well. Now, that’s Cat Matthews in the middle there. That was Solving Love, Seth, I think, who’s off the back um of the group. So, we’re coming up on on the women now. That’s
obviously through the technical sections with a mechanical. she’s going to lose some time because, you know, if that that arrow bar is so far over on her her left side, it’s got to be it’s got to create some sort of restriction and, you know, whatever it is, this is the part of the course that’s a little more technical and like up until this point, she was aggressive and she was riding at the front even with that mechanical position. Would you agree with that, Reie? Yeah. I want I wonder like so when you go through a technical section um if you’re going to take the technical section in your error bars, which you can to a degree unless it’s super technical. Once she’s on her base bars, I think it’s fair game. Like everybody’s on their base bars. It looks like she’s riding back up now. As you said, MJ, once it gets to the straight, um she’s able to just bridge back up and and riding super strong. So, uh, which is interesting to me cuz I thought it would have thought it would have been the opposite in that she’s using the bass bars. Everybody’s on the bass bars in the technical section, you know, unless it’s like messing with like how the bike feels like um,
I think it’s getting in the way. Trying to listen to the conversation from the officials. It sounded like they were just talking about um her arrow bar and it sounded like they saying it’s broken and we keep getting reports that it’s broken and and it’s not just uh an easy fix, which would make sense, which maybe why she’s not stopping um to try and get it, you know, someone to wrench on it. And um it look it looked like it just fallen like a a bolt is loose or something, but sounds like maybe it’s broken and it’s not something that she can easily
I think I think because it’s so far over the other side. Yeah, it definitely looks like it’s uh something significant. That was uh Johanna Arens’s that we just see on camera right now. Um yeah, so it’s Yeah, it’s interesting. I think it was nice to like sort of try to hear that conversation because you know losses we we want to know if it’s fixable because I mean obviously she’s committed and she’s staying positive but you know that can change in an instant though too because we saw that she did lose a little bit of time through that technical section but you know what impressed me the most Ry is the fact as soon as it got straight she actually got back into that group. So, that’s telling me that she feels good. She feels strong. She’s staying positive.
But at some point, that is definitely going to mess with her some way somehow because, you know, at the, you know, you’d be thinking, “Oh my goodness, if I had my other arm in those arrow bars, I’d be more comfortable. I would not have to be worrying about it.” But then you think of the other side of it. You know, this is the first Iron Man she’s ever done, right? She’s committed. She doesn’t have any experience. So, she’s got nothing to lose, right? And she’s riding two. Yeah. Two of the best in in the sport. And she’s like, “Well, may as well. I mean, my body is working fine. I can continue on. It’s not ideal, but hey, I’m here. I’ve tapered. I may as well get some fitness out of this and and see how far I can take it. It looks like Let’s see if we can hear. It looks like maybe she is pulling off now. Okay, now she did find the mechanic. Okay, maybe this is something that can be fixed. And I think she’s riding so strong. There is a possibility that maybe she can get back. So, let’s put a timer on this. Yeah, they’ve got the Allen key out. They’re tightening it up. So, maybe it’s not broken. Maybe it was just an Allen key. Um, but yeah, they are taking some time to try to fix it. Oh, yeah. And these as the seconds by you see. Oh, nope.
Did it just come off? Okay. No, she was able to turn it back around. So, it was a loose
bolt.
Bolt and she’s turned back.
Look how calm she is. She’s like I mean I’m sure her heart is beating significantly. But yeah, I mean, well, probably
this is not this is not too bad. I’m looking at 50 seconds from when she stopped.
That’s not bad for a mechanical that looked like it was game ending.
Yeah, it’s definitely going to take her a while if she can catch up up. I mean, 50 seconds, you know, it’s it’s quite a few miles that she’s going to have to really put her head down. And she’s then got to decide whether she’s committed to riding a little bit harder to try to get with back with that group. I mean, it’s going to take her a while, like 50 seconds. I would assume it might even take her like 20 miles to get back on.
It depends. Does she like cuz in her little sound bite she said you know if there’s a time in the race where I want to catch up to someone like I put the power down and I she has the access to that power. I think when you’ve been doing a lot of Iron Man races yes maybe you don’t have access to that top end. She’s come from Paris Olympics last year shortc course racing crushing um her 70.3 in Venice solo earlier this year. She has access to some serious power now. Is it smart for her to do that? Probably not. But on the other hand, like, you know, she’s got nothing to lose. So, does she just put her head down? Um, yeah. I mean, it’s not going to happen like in a in an instant. It’s going to take a good, you know, I was saying 20 miles, 15, 20 minutes. I mean, I bet she
I was like 20 miles. But yeah, but the way that we saw her riding and the fact she was riding with one arm in the arrows, I mean, that’s telling me she’s in good form and like is like, you know, a very good bike rider to be able to maintain that. So, uh, only time will tell whether it’s 20 to 30 minutes or it’s 20 miles or, you know, she gets sort of stuck in that no man’s land. Um, so yeah, it’s going to be very interesting
and we’re rolling along with that chase pack and Jackie Herring is in that group. We caught up with Jackie before the race to hear what she had to say.
Jackie Herring, we’re here in Hamburg, Germany for the Iron Man European Championships. I live in the USA in Wisconsin. I like to come early because jet leg is hard on me. takes a few days to adjust and then also you just want to give yourself time to make sure your bags get here and your bike. Last year my stuff didn’t come for like three days. So, it’s good to have time. I love returning to a race that I’ve done before and just having that little bit of familiarity. It’s helping a lot. Feels pretty relaxed here actually. Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s fine. Changes in the bike and the run course. So, I’ve had enough time to be able to scope it out. I rode pretty much the bike course and yeah, I think the run it’s just a little bit different weaving through town so it’ll be fine. There’s people everywhere so you don’t even know where you are half the time you’re just running. So yeah, I brought on a new coach this year. I wanted to have a woman coach. Um I’m friends with Natasha Vanderwa of NDVM Coaching. She’s got a huge team. She’s in the US and you know we used to race professionally together back in the day and I just connect really well with her. Communication is really the main thing. Um I pretty much generally most pros once you’ve been doing it a while you generally do know what to do. So it’s really the support and communication um and feedback is what we’re looking for. At least what I’m looking for. So, I found that with her and it’s been really good. Yeah, it’s great to hear from Jackie. Uh, it sounds like she got in um a little bit ago, but uh the change in coaching um this year. She’s um come into this I mean she had a great season last last year, but it sounds like she just wanted someone um that gave a little bit more communication and um I think that’s so important having a coach that’s just in your corner. I think uh for me in my career, I had, you know, one long-term coach who really was on my team and I knew that my goals were her goals and she had my back. And I think that that really just goes a long way. Um the the training, as Jackie said, we know what to do. Everyone’s kind of doing the same thing, but the magic of the way you put it together and the way you communicate and adjust, um I think is more important than than any one session or any like um program that you could do. So yeah, I think um yeah, she seems like she’s super happy. She was came into this race seemed pretty relaxed and has started the season out really well. So um now she’s sitting in that, you know, second group and and she looks great.
No, she really does. And you know, I totally agree. We we both coach uh night right now under the TR do platform and uh communication to me is key. It’s like uh you have the data and but those conversations that you have with the athlete and sometimes having somebody looking in from the outside because when you’re so close to something you just don’t see it and I sort of like use this analogy of like we both could be doing the same races
and your perception of what happened to my perception of what happened can be very different
just just the way your view is and and what you feel in the case can be very different and and it’s really important that you do have a a good team behind you and you know when we talk about tactics uh as well it’s like Jackie obviously had a great conversation with a coach because when I asked her about you know the field and tactics she said you know obviously we have the two strongest iron man distance women’s in this race and you know Jackie’s the third fastest ever um after her win here in Hamburg and she said, “Yeah, it’s a bit intimidating for sure to have those two women on the start line, but at the same time, I have to remember I did go fast here last year. For me, it’s best to focus on my race and my effort and know that if I execute my best day, I will be happy and proud no matter the results.” Besides Cat and Laura, there are several women who could have huge results. And I think that’s what makes a race like this truly exciting. My tactic is to keep to myself in the race as best as I can on the swim and the bike and then focus on the running my best run with whatever my body will give me. Yeah. I mean that’s the best way to approach any and everything. I mean you know any young athlete out there should be listening to Jackie Herring. She’s been around uh for a long time and the best way to get the best race out of yourself is to just focus on yourself. We are with the Chase pack here in Hamburg and we have Laura Phillip and Cat Matthews in the lead. Halfway coming up. Here’s Elizabeth in the middle of the perfect workout for her. To create it, we analyzed her biometrics and genetics, her recovery rate, injury risk, and aerobic potential. Her recent training sessions, the temperature, humidity, and elevation, the demands of her next race, and billions of data points from athletes just like her. With Trid Dot, Elizabeth gets faster faster. And what does she have to do?
I just opened Trid Dot and did my workout.
Trot, we do the technology, you do the training. We’re not here to sell you on this life. You already chose it. No shortcuts, no hype, just work. Same as you. Built to outlast, endure. 40 years in and we’re just getting warmed up. Welcome to the Ohana. You know, and we know the thing about challenging yourself is you’re always looking for what’s next. Heat. Heat. You’re watching the Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship. I’m Marina Carafrey joined by McKilly Jones and we are rolling along with Elvis Vissa and she is in that chase pack with Annie Richman, Sarah Spank, Elvis Vissa, Margeline Pierre, Jackie Herring, Yenni Yendes as well. So that is a very fast group of women and they are chasing solving. Love Seth is um was in that front group but she had a mechanical. She had to stop and have her handlebars um wrenched on. One of those handlebars had slipped. A bolt must have um been loose. And we have Laura Phillip and Cat Matthews in the lead. And we are setting the stage for a phenomenal back half of this Iron Man showdown between Laura and Cat Matthews and possibly the rest a few other women too. Yes. And don’t forget Danielle Lewis. She actually has made up some time. So she’s now um in 12th position at 8:31 back. So making up a little bit of time uh as this race gets rolling. So, uh, as, uh, we I predicted earlier that definitely she starts to come in her own. Um, the longer she is on the bike. Yeah. So, Danielle Lewis out of the water around 6:30 behind the lead. Um, dropped back. We were over 9 minutes and and now sort of starting to claw her way back again. But again, Danielle Lewis goes from strength to strength. Uh, the back end of this bike and then into the marathon. um she will have a solid end to this race. And this is Johanna Arren and she’s sitting around 10th place right now around five minutes back. She’s sort of in no man’s land between that chase pack and a few women behind her. Danielle Lewis still a few minutes back from her as well, but uh riding strong in 10th place. Local German athlete.
Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, it’s one of those things when you sort of do get stuck by yourself, it it definitely can be good because you get to like dial in your own race speed, your own race strategy. Um, if she can get uh a little bit of help from the girls behind her, if they can catch back up, that would definitely help. But, you know, that second group, I mean, they’re slowly chipping away time. And uh it’s it’s always interesting when you see this start to happen because if they can get within 60 seconds, I mean that’s when you’re going to see all sorts of sorts of things happening. But I I’m also seeing that um lost Seth, she’s now made up 4 seconds, right? It doesn’t seem like that much, but if she can just get 5 seconds here, 5 seconds there, that 51 second deficit that she’s sitting at now, it’s only going to help her. And as soon as she sort of gets on those long straights and if she can see Philillip and Matthews, that again is going to motivate her. And we were discussing earlier how obviously she was feeling very good and riding quite well even with that mechanical. The fact that she could still stay in the group, she was on the front. Yeah, she was losing a little bit of time on the more technical aspects of the course, but like you said, she’s got to decide to lay it down and really go for it. I mean, really, that’s her chance, right? This is the first time she’s doing an Iron Man. She talked about, you know what, I’m going to go until I I blow up. And I feel like that’s the commitment. Like now it’s down to 50 seconds.
So, you know, if she can, as I said, if she can get in eyeshot of our two leaders, she’s going to be right back up there in the lead group. And my advice, if I could whisper something in her ear right now, is like once you get there, just be patient. Yeah. Be patient. like make if you’re going to put the effort in, make the effort and then be patient when you actually catch that group.
Yeah, I think that’s uh Sage advice and I think um you know if you’re just joining us now uh Love Seth had a mechanical and so she had to stop um get her arrow bar fixed and she lost around a minute. So I I think that was a pretty quick uh quick stop. Uh it looked like it was something that was broken, but it was just a loose bolt that she needed to um tighten back up. Um so she lost around, you know, a minute and that and now she’s around 50 seconds back. So she was riding with Laura Phillip and Cat Matthews and now sitting in third place. But we’re with Margeline Pierre right now and she is in that chase pack with Rashman Spank Vissa uh and Jackie Herring and Yender Shriek. So that is um that pack is riding faster than the lead two. So which is a a surprise to me. I think, you know, we definitely know we have some very strong women in that pack, but Laura Phillip and Cat Matthews on paper are the faster two riders um on course. So, um yeah, I I I think Cat and Laura are spending a little bit of time sort of looking at each other and I think they’ll again, we are early in this race, only, you know, 62 miles inish, maybe a little less than that. Um, so a long way to go, but these are the two best or fastest women on paper over the Iron Man distance um in the world. And so I think there is a little bit of uh mind games going on. Um you know who wants to take the lead, who’s going to sit, who wants to do the pacemaking. Um and you know at the end of the day it’ll be who has the legs on the marathon. Um and who’s you know fueled well and who is having their day really. Well, here’s a little bit of information that uh may help you decide what’s happening in this race. um those front two riders of Matthews and Phillip, originally their um estimated bike finish was going to be a 430. They’ve now dropped that down to 425. So, they’ve definitely picked up the pace and then um obviously um Slovic Lfest had that issue uh with that mechanical um she’s definitely still riding quite fast. we we’ll get a check. I mean, obviously, it’s dropped down to about 428 and then we’re just waiting for that next checkpoint uh with our chase, our probably our third chase since we have um Riceman um charging hard and loss losing that time. So, so group number three, it’s going to be interesting to see when they go through that next checkpoint how much time they’ve gained because every other checkpoint they have been making up ground. And as we look at the top two women here, that’s Laura Phillip um in the in the front. Um, sorry. Cat Matthews is in the front. Laura Phillips behind her, but it looks like Cat Matthews is starting to put the pedal to the metal a little bit. Uh, you see Laura Phillip really tucked in and there’s a that’s a sizable gap. I mean, you know, it’s, you know, it’s hard to tell from this angle, but she’s not sitting at 12 m. I mean, it’s the rubber band is a little bit out. So, I think um
and I like the fact that you’re bringing that up because
up until this point they were pretty close within the rules.
Yeah.
And then you saw like this camera angle is a little deceptive, but then you saw that there’s been like a little bit more of a push. And I mean this is where the strength of good bike riders will start to come into play. And these these both these athletes, they are super strong on on the bike. And now I think that you don’t have losses in the mix. I think they’re a little bit more committed to actually pushing the pace and getting into a little bit more of their own routine. And it’ll be interesting to see like Laura Phillip if she goes back to the front. Obviously, she’s caught back up a little bit by the looks of it as she gets her try uh hydration sorted out. It’ll be interesting to see how long she lets Cat Matthews actually set the pace or if she’s going to actually move to the front and they’re going to share it. Yeah, I think um the other thing to consider is are they just trying to put some time into SVG love Seth too at right now SVG is half a mile behind um on course we have our GPS um trackers on the athletes and on course right now she’s point8 of a kilometer or a half a mile behind these two women and oh this is Jackie Herring no a mechanical from Jackie Herring it looks like I’m not sure I haven’t I don’t know what uh her the problem is, but uh that is not good news for Jackie Herring. I don’t know if she hopefully we can u get a replay and see what she was fixing. Um but I don’t know if it was a flat tire and she was putting a little more air in or if it was something to do with her rear bottle cage, but it was something in the back and now seems like she’s, you know, back on course and riding along. Okay. But um that is a blow for Jackie Herring. She was in a really great position with that group. I mean, it’s not game over by any means, but just not not ideal. I mean, it’s never ideal to have a mechanical at any stage of the race, whether you’re leading on your own with a group. But here we go. Something on her tire. Something. It looks like she was patting her tire. So if she I’m wondering if if there was a something on the tire like a it was bumping along or that’s a that’s a CO2. So I’m wondering if she lost some air and then maybe she was trying to look and see if there were maybe it didn’t seal very quick. Maybe that was the issue. Maybe she could maybe she did get a puncher and then um and she needed to top it up with
top it up and because
but she might have been looking to see if there was like something sticking out of the of the wheel like she went over like a piece of glass or or you know some sort of tack. Um but again just not um what you’d love to see. U Jackie of course uh in the pole position. She is our defending champion from here. And yep, it looks like it looks like she’s riding on a flat.
Yeah.
Yeah, that’s a very spongy rear wheel. So, she has she tried to put some CO2 in it. So, when you’re riding a um talk to us a little bit about um the tires that they use and um what she was trying to accomplish with the CO2.
Well, yeah. I’m assuming she’s on a tubeless and had a sealant in there. So, what happens is when you do get a puncher, that sealant will come out, but then it’ll quickly seal. Um, if it’s too big, you’d have to plug the hole if you if you’re actually carrying a plug. And that’s the tricky bit when you do get like a flat like this. It’s like if that sealant doesn’t work, you know, she tried to um get that tire pumped up, but obviously it’s it didn’t work. It’s getting flatter and fatter. You’re going to see it bounce around a lot more. I mean, and she’s at some point she’s going to be have to commit to trying to change it, wait for a mechanic, but yeah, it looks like it’s lost like a lot of air and that’s that’s hard to ride particularly. You can see her going over the some of the bumps right now. That that does not look good for Jackie right now.
No. And also um not to mention just cornering when you have a spongy
Well, at least it’s a black back wheel. A front wheel is going to be much harder to control. A rear wheel. And you know, because of the wider tires, you can definitely run not as much air, but I mean, you can see that that wheel is hitting the pavement quite hard, which means that, you know, she’s lost a lot of air. So, I mean, she’s just got to commit to hope that the mechanic comes up and they can change it. U maybe get a new wheel. Yeah.
Or or she’s just going to see how it goes. But yeah, that’s the problem with sealant. If the hole is too big and it lets too much air out, it’s not going to reseal and then the other problem is like you try to inflate it and that’s where a plug can come into play. But yeah, it’s very unfortunate and you know, you always hate to see you know, things like that happen. And you know, so far we’ve had like two mechanicals already. Yeah. with Low Seth um getting that handlebar issue where they had to tighten the bolt down and it was like a good 60k before that happened. And Jackie was sitting I think in in a nice little group um with Ann Riceman and Visor and then I was just looking at the splits and definitely Matthews and Philillip are putting back in a charge because they’re riding now a little bit quicker than that that chase group. So obviously the tactics are starting to change. I mean typically like Reinnie, you know, when once you get to sort of that halfway, you know, you start to like really grind it out and you’re thinking about, okay, this is where I can put more time in or this is where I can take advantage. Absolutely. Yeah. I think um you know the first lap everyone’s legs are fresh. Everyone can kind of ride at a pretty high level. It’s the cracks start to show in that second lap and the you know I I think particularly in the last 40 or 50 kilometers the last you know 45 minutes to an hour of riding for the women that’s when you know damage can really be done and then of course on the run um that’s sort of a different story with you know making depending on how well athletes have paced themselves how well have uh um hydrated how they’ve taken on the nutrition the salts and everything they need. Uh we see the lead two Cat Matthews and Laura Phillip going through an A station.
It looked like Cat missed.
Cat missed.
Missed the that first bottle exchange. We’ll see if she will go for a second bottle exchange. Yep, she caught that one. So you see her taking on a little bit of a hydration, a little bit of water. You see the sun’s come out now too.
Yeah. So, uh, with the high humidity and again, we uh, had a delay this morning because we had some significant thunderstorms roll through the area. So, the athletes were 45 minutes delayed from the start. Uh, which is going to mean it’s going to be warmer on the bike for them and also the run just being by virtue of being later in the day that they started. But also, um, the humidity was up like super high. It was in the ‘ 90s um, at the start. It’ll be a little bit lower now, but um definitely a steamy day in Hamburg. Uh you can see Cat Matthews definitely sweating a a fair amount, but uh you know, it’s a summer sport. They’re used to that. Um racing in in the heat is no um
Well, I definitely think Cat’s used to it after being in Texas.
Texas. Yeah, this is probably nothing compared to Texas. And it’ll be nothing compared to Hawaii, too.
Yeah. And Germany has not been exactly warm. I mean, we’ve we’ve had a couple of warm days and I always find like the humidity does help, you know, of course, keep it warm, but it’s like I feel like a an 18 degree day in or a 20 to a 22 degree day is sometimes a lot warmer than what the actual temperature says. So, yeah. So, Reie, I did want to ask you one question. So tactically, if you’re in this situation and there was two of you, obviously you know each other inside out. Obviously, um Laura has a slight advantage being the world champion on you. It’s like you know that this is your fiercest the two fiercest competitors right now are first and second. Would you swap off turns or would you sit back and like let the other athlete do the work
or would it depend?
I think it depends um on how you’re feeling on like you know sometimes you know there’s an athlete that’s just an aggressor and wants to be in the lead. Um you know some athletes are comfortable leading some athletes are comfortable sitting in. Um, I I think it just depends on the circumstance that you’re in and and I think with these two women, um, yeah, there is a little bit of that, well, I feel good, let me go to the front. Um, and let me push the pace a little bit. Um, and yeah, there’s got to be that back and forth and I’m feeling good at this moment or maybe I’m not feeling good at this moment. So, there’ll be that all day long. And we are with Jackie Herring. She’s the defending champ. I had a flat tire, but we’ll see how she fares in a moment. You know, and we know the thing about challenging yourself is you’re always looking for what’s next. Not it. Meet Kicker Run from Wahoo. A revolutionary indoor running experience where you just run and your feet set the pace. We call it run free mode, a game-changing technology that allows you to change speeds naturally, just like you do outdoors. You can even let popular training apps control the speed and grade for you. Kicker Run by Wahoo. It’s time to run free. We’re almost at the halfway point of the Zoot Pike course at the Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championships. On screen right now is our defending champ, Jackie Herring. Unfortunately, she has suffered a flat tire. She continues to ride though. Very, very impressive. We turn our attention to some sad news. Last week, Iron Man lost a member of our ohana. longtime announcer Jay Luke. Jay touched the lives of so many in our triathlon community. His love and enthusiasm for our sport was unmatched. We are deeply saddened by his passing. To reiterate the sentiments from our Iron Man UK team, Jayluke, who has called thousands of athletes across the line during their Iron Man journey over the past nine years, was part of the fabric of our team. His presence, humor, and unwavering support were felt by everyone lucky enough to know him. From the jokes, laughs, coffee missions, and unmatched traveling cap collection to his infectious energy on the finish line, his absence leaves a huge hole in our hearts. We will carry his spirit in all we do. We are heartbroken and our thoughts and deepest condolences are with his wife, family, friends, and all who loved him. Rest in peace, Jay. It won’t be the same without you. Jay meant so much to so many people, especially those who had the privilege privilege to work with him and call him a friend.
Hello, I’m Paul K at the Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship and it’s sad to take a moment to pay tribute to a member of the Iron Man family. Triathlon is a niche sport and within that niche sport is a group of people who are the sports presentation team. These are the announcers and the DJs. This is actually a family and last week very tragically this family won lost one of its members. Jayluke worked the Iron Man UK and Ireland events, also West Freezeland, also Croatia, and many, many other events in Europe and in Australia. Born in the United Kingdom, living in Oz, coming to spend his summers in the UK and Ireland, doing what he loved, announcing. And my goodness, didn’t everybody just love him. Jayluke, like a tsunami, but not in a bad way, in a beautiful way. so much energy and brought so much joy to people. From Iron Man and the extended Iron Man or Hana to Paula, Jay’s wife,
hey Tim,
we’re sending you so much strength and so much love during this time. To all the people that Jay’s worked with and to all the athletes and the spectators that have had the pleasure to have Jay on their start line and their finish line, we think of you too. Jayluke, I hope you’re driving the big man crazy with your microphone right now. Victory Alley will never be the same again. Hey, hey, hey, You know, and we know the thing about challenging yourself is you’re always looking for what’s next. Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship is brought to you by Morton. Get used to it. And by Ruby, the indoor cycling experience. And MJ, we are halfway through this zoot bike course. And the athletes are in a very long tunnel. This must be a little unnerving with those um visors. Um do you know how fast that is though?
It would feel very fast. Um yeah, going through there. But uh I think a little unnerving I think when you go into the dark out of the sunlight and just don’t crash, right? No, it it definitely is. Uh definitely your your vision uh needs time to adjust and uh we’re about to hit the that was they’re about to hit the turning point there to go into to lap two. That was right at the end or start of transition either way that you uh look at it. Um yeah, so we continue to pay attention to Jackie Herring right now, our defending champion. Um if you weren’t watching earlier, you will know, you won’t know that she actually suffered a flat tire, but continues to to ride. She did try to get some air in it, but unfortunately she couldn’t. And today we have a little treat. We’re joined by four-time world champion, three-time Olympic Olympian, and former Iron Man world record holder, also best mustache in triathlon, Tim Dawn. Tim, how’s it going?
Oh, very well, thank you. How are you doing?
We’re doing great. Uh, talk to us a little bit about your thoughts from what you’re seeing in the race so far.
I’m just blown away. This is this is a really tactical race. Um, I really don’t think that Cat thought she was going to be leading, but definitely not definitely not with um, you know, Jackie Herren behind her. Um, and obviously Laura Phillip as well so close. And in the swim, we could see she kept looking back. I think that’s like, God, they’re still here. She’s still here. And then she got a bit funny. I think she was like, “Well, get off my feet cuz you save so much energy.” Laura’s racing such a masterclass tactically in that swim. And again on the bike, the women at the front are not We saw what how what kind of bike condition Cat’s in from Texas. And I don’t think she’s shown that yet. It’s It’s going to be an interesting second lap. It really is.
Yeah. No, I to I totally agree. And I think I think Cat’s going to go into this second lap and she’s really going to have to decide, am I going to go for it or am I going to wait for the the run? What do you think, Tim? Absolutely. I think both those women are, you know, first and second in the world. I mean, you know, at at the Iron Man World Championships in Nice last year, they are the best. We are watching the best right now. And their strength is their bike and um very very good runners. But I would say, you know, Cat’s got a new coach. Not only is he a specialist cycling coach, um he’s also an ex um an ex uh hour world record holder and he specializes in pacing strategies for time trials. He works with the Star Pro cycling team. Alex Daet. They wanted to be on their own so they could capitalize on that strength, but they’ve kind of neutralized each other by looking. You saw Laura got a kind of warning for getting too close. They’re not used to rolling into these draft zones. Um I think Cat Cat will be thinking, “What do I do?” Laura will have the confidence. She did race last week a 70.3. Um very cold. She won that quite comfortably as much as you know the level she’s raced in now. I think last week was very much a training race. So, she is ready to to have a fast run. But what Cat did in Texas, the fastest Iron Man distance ever that we’ve seen, um, this second lap is going to be fascinating. And Tim, um, who else are you liking what you’re seeing from Sveg, Lois Seth? Do you think she’s got uh something to maybe upset one of these women or anyone else in the field that is exciting you? Oh, SVC. I mean, it’s her first Iron Man. She’s riding. She’s pulling turns. I’d be like, “No, just just b your time. This is double the distance. This is not this is not going from Olympic to 70.3. This is insane.” And then when she got that broken arrow bar, she kind of still was taking turns with Cat Matthews. You know, she’s got an exciting future. Um, you know, she did eventually stop. She has got it tightened. Um, so she’s back in the game and she’s in no man’s land. She’s not with the lead two, but then she’s not in that pack, but she’s going to keep pushing. She definitely looked good. Jackie Herren, she knows how to race fast on this course. We saw that last year. I do think these weather conditions are really fast, but did they go fast enough on the bike to to break the course record? Um, we saw she had a slow puncher. Um, you know, they have that goo, that sealant, so you need to spin the wheel. I’m presume she’s running tubeless. We saw saw Annie last year, she had quite a few punches where she she was running an inner tube. Now the top athletes have this goo in. So the faster that wheel rotates, the goo inside the tire kind of blocks blocks that hole. Um, but you do lose some pressure. So you could see her bouncing in the saddle. So that’s going to she’s going to have to make a decision. Does she stop? Is there neutral support to give her a wheel? Is the disc rotor the same size? Is it going to be a ShraMM or Shimano or Campagnola? Is it actually going to work? But um, we know in Iron Man, you know, it’s not over till it’s over. And we’re only halfway through the bike, but it’s a fascinating tactical race. No, it certainly is. And the other question I have for you in terms of tactics because uh Laura Phillip did expect it to be very tactical and to be in a group. So in terms of that, I think Laura has set herself up mentally to be prepared for this bike ride. talk a little bit about what it takes to break a world record and does that physically or mentally change you in any way? It definitely changes you. You know, we’ve got to remember Cat Matthews in 2019 was a firstear pro. Before then, she was an amateur. She was a physio in the army. Her triathlon age is very young. She has improved at an astronomical rate. And the thing I love about Cat is she’s a real competitor. She’s got that army mindset, you know, she is a championship performer and you saw that in Iron Man Texas. She’s leading well, she won the pro series last year, she’s leading it now. You know, she is looking to bang bang those points, but I would say five weeks is a good turnaround. Um, you know, as I say, she’s got a new coaching team this year. This is a European race. Um, you know, Laura has got that weight of expectation on her shoulders. you know, um to to be the current Iron Man world champion and for her first Iron Man to be the European champs in Germany. Um we know the Germans love Iron Man and I I just think um Cat Cat is definitely coming here more relaxed. She said she wasn’t as confident. Um but I think she’s quietly confident in her ability and and the longer this race goes on, she will definitely be be um be grown in confidence. I want to put you on the spot a little bit. Um Tim, do you could you pick it right now? Who do you think um has the upper hand? I mean, on paper, Laura’s the faster runner. Um but Cat Matthews, I mean, one tough athlete, and I think, you know, on her day, is also as fast as as Laura is as well. So, yeah. Who Who do you think?
I think you’d be a fool to pick it now, you know? I mean, look at Jackie Herren. Jackie Herring was there or thereabouts and then she got a flat tire. You know, so look what happened to Cat Matthews at this race last year. Her arrow bar broke. She then got a penalty and then she DNF. But you know, you got to also remember Cat can run fast. She has podium at the World 70.3s recently. You know, she she has that run. She has come in with full confidence. Lauren knows how well her training’s going, but she doesn’t know it measured to the game’s improving every year. And you know, as we can see now, just you know, the the equipment, the aerodynamic, the training, the nutrition, everything is moving at light speed in Iron Man at the moment. So, I can’t pick it, but I’m I’m a Brit, so I’ll definitely at the moment go for C Matthews, but let’s see. All right. So, the dark horse, Lo Seth, what do you think? Do you think she can catch them on the ball?
I don’t I think I I I mean, let I don’t I don’t I think she would be unwise to try and catch them. I I’m sure she’s got a strategy with her coach where she wants to hold certain numbers and she can’t go above that. Um for her, I I think it would be very much a learning experience racing her first full iron man. Um I think she’ll be settling back down into the the power, the watts or the heart rate um that she wants to wants to hold. Hopefully she’s gone back to bikes fixed. Now I can do the best. Almost it takes the pressure off her. You know, she was riding with the two best women in the world thinking this is the dream position, but it puts that pressure. But now, no matter what happens, oh my gosh, her arrow bar broke. She had to stop. The mechanic had to fix it, you know. So, I think she’s kind of got like an open card to race how she wants, but I hope she’s racing within herself early on so she can then execute that run because as we’ve seen over 70.3s, she’s a very, very good runner. Yeah, and as you said that um you know she was 27 seconds back at the last time split. It looks like she’s um shutting that gap to these two women. We’re just about to get the next um time split here, Tim. So um I think she’s um pretty eager. 20 28 seconds behind these two. So uh she I think she wants to bridge up and get back up to the front of this race. But maybe that’s showing that Pat and Laura still aren’t going at full gas. Or that’s true, too. you know, you know, we we we really don’t know cuz you do. Yes, we have. I do think with Race Ranger, you you ride legally, but you ride a lot closer. Without Race Ranger, you’re kind of 15 m, 12 m, 10, 8, 15, you know, you’re always on the but now it’s you’re riding right on that cusp. So, they are that the pack dynamics have definitely changed introducing this race ranger, which is which is which is fairer because everyone’s riding to the rules, but it’s making it more exciting. Um be interesting to see, you know, we do seem to see cat a lot on the front. Um but if Laura takes turns, they are going through town. The roads in town are quite bumpy. I’ve raced um Hamburg Iron Man myself. Once you get out along that dyke, that’s when you open it up. Will they contend with um some of the the age groupers on the first lap? We know the roads are narrow. That that’ll be an interesting dynamic to play into as well, you know, on this second lap. Okay. Since Rinnie asked you about Laura and Cat, who was going to uh possibly win,
who do you see as uh the other contenders right now as you’re watching the bike course? Well, Annie Rashman, you know, you saw how she raced in Iron Man South Africa. She won the the Pro Series there and um I just think, you know, she she she had a steady measured measured approach to that race. Um, so yeah, I mean there’s so many. Well, there’s not so many. I I do think it’s a two- horse race at the moment because they are in the driving seat. We know they can both run sub 250, you know, and let’s be honest, Rene, you were running sub 250 with no carbon shoes. So, the running’s quick now, but you can tell I’m old there. Same thing. But, but no, I I I I think it’s going to be hard to get on the the first or second stat. But, you know, nutrition, you know, is that fourth element. And um you know you lose a water bottle. We saw an athlete earlier on very early her it looked like her nutrition fell off. She did the wise thing. She stopped. She went and got it. We saw through one of the aid stations Cat was struggling to get bottles. Those are vital moments that that these athletes have to make um decisions in um on the way. And another question going back to Jackie Herring and the spongy rear wheel. Uh, do you think it’s worth her just stopping and trying to fix it herself or do you think she just keeps riding until she knows that there’s some um support that can help get her a new wheel? I think what’s the best choice?
H yeah, that’s a tough one. In the moment, I think you want to move forward. You know, like we saw Chris Froom run up run up um Mont Vontu, you know, in a bike race, the tour to France because he wanted to go forward. I think she’ll keep riding um while she’s still got pressure in, but she is going into that town section where we see it’s quite fast and flowy. So, she’s got to be careful she doesn’t crash. The problem is is she’s going to lose four or five minutes if she’s changing the wheel herself. I’m not sure if there is a neutral support vehicle that does have spare wheels. We did see that in a pro series in St. George with one of the male athletes got a puncher with Lionel Saunders and there was a there was a motorbike with wheels on there. You know, for me, I would be shouting at the marshals. I’ll be saying, “I’ve got a flat tire. Where’s neutral support? Where’s neutral support?” We want these athletes to stay in the race as long as possible. But I think if she can ride, you’ve got to keep pushing and stay in the game as long as possible, especially if she’s in a group because, as we know, group dynamics do often move quicker than um people on their own. Okay. My next question is about our youngest athlete in the field, Margeline Pierre. What are your thoughts on on her in terms of this race and her progression? Um, her pro progression. I mean, I think the thing that really really helped her progression was that we had the world champs in France because the home advantage of that last year was just fantastic. You can definitely see she’s she’s um she always seems so so happy and I think she enters these I think she starts these races with with no no chip on her shoulder. She just wants to race. She knows she’s not going to be at the front, but as we’ve seen, she can ride a bike and she can run very well. Um, and and again, when we come off the bike, the first 5 to 10k, we’re going to see where these women are at. But she’ll definitely be thinking, “This is a flat course. Our flat course is easier than the world champs in Nice, where it’s very hilly, they kind of are easier, but you have to pedal. There is no freewheeling. It’s not hard, easy, freewheel. You know, if you stop pedaling, you slow down.” So, I’m sure she’s trained diligent diligently for that. The other thing I noticed is that um lots of these some of these athletes have been training up high in altitude which is obviously has massive benefits as as we know but also the riding is very hilly but some of those athletes maybe maybe they’re sleeping in an altitude tent to get that boost but they’re sleeping at sea level but there is a big difference to turning those pedals over all the time as opposed to climbing descending like St. George up down up down um and and I think Cat has that in her legs from Iron Man Texas minus the humidity. Yeah. And uh talk a little bit about just uh cadence in general, Tim. Like you know, some athletes like to grind it out and really low cadence. Margelane sort of probably in the mid 80s, sometimes upper 80s. Uh talk a little bit about um you know, why they would choose a bigger gear or a smaller gear and spin.
Yeah, I think I think cadence is such an individual thing. Um obviously that that the the lower you spin, the more torque that goes through the legs. So they say that can really really you know like deaden the quads but it saves the hamstrings and calves which are used for running. But I think you can see here she’s got a great high cadence that’s in its 90s. Um it’s something that you find that sweet spot. Um you know some of the older school coaches are kind of like you know slam the saddle forward, you know, put it in the biggest gear and just grind it. But again with pacing strategies and this is a fast course. So the faster you go your cadence naturally becomes quicker. kind of like motor pacing when you train really close behind a moped or motorbike is the same same power and effort but the speed’s quicker so your cadence is higher. Um I think the best thing about that the most important thing about cadence is that it’s smooth. Um you know you don’t want to you want to you know some of the athletes towe where they they don’t drop their heel at the bottom of the pedal stroke. You can see here she’s having a nice stretch um of her lower back. Again this is another thing on the course like this is you are in that arrow position. As soon as you sit up from those arrow bars, you lose that advantage of the arrow helmet, of the special everyone has these suits now with trip lines in that that that kind of make you go faster. You everything’s about watts and power, but at the end of the day, you need to get from A to B as quick as possible. And in my opinion, with as least power and effort so you can execute um a fast run hopefully. All right, since we’re doing some uh tech questions, um you know, with the positions and the shorter cranks, talk a little bit about how that’s enabled the athletes actually to go with a little bit higher cadence. Absolutely. Everyone’s going for the short, not everyone. Um the trend at the moment is shorter cranks. I’m sure it’ll go full circle and everyone will go to 180 mm, but right now 165 167.5. Um, so that’s the length of the crank. So that opens up your hip hip angle. So when your when your foot is at the top of the pedal stroke, your hip is open. So that again, that’s not crunching you over. So you can get a little bit lower at the front. And to even exaggerate that, you can move your pleat really far back. Someone like Lucy Charles, she has a midfoot cleat, so she can go even lower at the front. So again, that’s more aerodynamic, but again, um, for those explosiveness is maybe not as good, you know, if you’re sprinting, you know, the end stage of a tour to France or or a short course race, but in these races, it it’s just invaluable. And I think it really, you know, everyone now is definitely under 170 mm and shorter. Yeah. And just looking at uh this group of women here. Uh if you were riding along, would you actually this is um Love Seth is I think rejoined. So we’re just looking at the front pack. I thought we were looking at the second pack, but that’s Laura Phillip in second. That’s Cat Matthews leading and Love Seth has rejoined. So she made quick work of that um mechanical. She lost probably over a minute and and now she’s just going to go straight to the front. So, she took none of our advice and she’s I guess she’s feeling good and feeling strong. Um, we were chatting earlier about, you know, coming up from Olympic distance racing into 70.3 racing and and this is her first Iron Man race. Um, is it a little bit of uh ignorance is bliss? Absolutely. I think to the run to the last 10k and then you think, “Wow, this is this this is real.” I mean, I I’ve had that transition myself. But I mean, not only did she rejoin them, she has gone straight to the front. I think I think they would have I think Cat and Laura would have thought she’s gone. You know, we might see her on the run. But um for her to do that, I think um but then again, she’s going to be dragging um potentially Cat and Laura away from from if she’s riding that quick, she is moving quicker than them because she’s just put a minute into them um after her mechanical. And don’t forget, every second counts. So, you know, so as much Laura or Cat win, they want that gap to be as big as possible. You know, Taylor Nib, you know, was amazing at that in the 70.3s and Cat had won by a considerable margin in Texas, but this, you know, Laura might get second but be 10 15 seconds behind her. That’s nothing when it comes to the end of the year. So, again, there’s not a race within a race, but there’s that year-long narrative of who wants to win the Pro Series. And as we saw last year, everyone wants to win it. But, oh, I mean, she’s gone straight to the front. I love that.
Yeah. $200,000 on the line, $130 for second and $1.7 million prize pool. Yeah, everyone I think wants their piece of that pie. And you’re absolutely right. Every second matters. It looks like she’s cleared out. They’re letting her go, which is shocking to me. So,
I think that tells me that she’s putting down some big big watts.
But here here was my next question. It’s like when you have been riding significantly faster and obviously to be able to stay with those two when she had that mechanical was to me showing that she was riding so strong and is so strong. So my question is it’s like she if you’re riding at a significant pace higher for a significant amount of time and you feel good, do you think that’s the reason why she’s just gone straight past because she she just got in her groove? She like, as you mentioned with Crank, she found her sweet spot and now she’s just put her head down and going in that sweet spot that she feels she’s capable of riding at. Absolutely. You know, time triing is is all about the flow. It’s all about that pacing and she was in in a groove and yeah, why not keep going? But then to Cat and Laura look at each other and they’re so confident in their own ability in the run that they’re going to lose the race. And if they lose the race, we are talking, you know, three or four hours later.
Yeah.
But they’re maybe playing the season game of of going for that pro series, but if you focus on one athlete, you can be blindsided because um you know, she still looks great and oh, I’m so glad to see that arrow bar nice and tight. She can see her power now. I I I really agree, Mackily, that she’s in that groove and why would she slow down? She’s confident in her own ability. She has a strategy and a plan. Um it’s cool as well. you know, that rain, you know, passed through um and and yes, the sun’s out, but I don’t think it’s terribly humid in Hamburg, and the wind has been out, but I think the wind went with that storm, so you know, why not go for it? Yeah, I think incredible. And and as you mentioned, um it you ignorance is bliss until the last 10 km of the marathon, but this um young woman is untapped potential. She’s, you know, come through the 70.3 distance and just blowing away. Um the times she put down and Yiannis Jo Solo were incredible. And now to be here and riding, not riding with, riding away from had a mechanical, stopped, took a minute, and gave him a little bit of a head start and then just rode straight by them. And I don’t think Cat Matthews or Laura Phillip are confident that they’re just going to outrun um Soul Vang because this this young woman ran a 116 and a half. So she is a dangerous athlete to to them. So I’m I’m a little bit surprised that she’s able to ride away so easily. Um and hopefully we’ll get a little bit of a look. Um you know, it seems that there’s it’s jumping around. The the tracking GPS tracking is jumping around right now. Uh, do I What do you think Cat and Laura are thinking right now? Well, I think Laura’s Laura’s partner and coach and Cat’s Cat’s husband and training partner will be going bananas because yes, she did run a 106 in a half, but that was off a 206 bike. So, it wasn’t an easy bike. She is the complete package. And, you know, maybe this she wouldn’t have said, “Hey, do you know what? I’m in good shape. Let’s do Iron Man Hamburg.” This would have been a plan for her season in the winter. and she’s probably executing the race she knows she can. You know, it’s all about her riding to those numbers and the data. And I do think Cat and Laura will will go, “Oh, hang on a second. The gap’s got too big. We need to bridge up.” But they won’t want to drag each other up. So, will they go will whoever’s on the front go hard? Will someone try and slingshot and go past? But as we can see, the camera bikes behind her now. So, hopefully there is a significant gap to those two women. But I do think now now the that the pace is back on. So people behind them have been riding very similar paces to those front two now three women. It’ll be interesting to see this second lap if those those times do balloon out like we expected because the rest of the field is not far behind. They’re not after one lap 8 n 10 minutes um behind like we thought they could be. They are a lot lot closer.
Yeah, absolutely. We’re uh it’s an exciting race that it’s shaping up to be. But uh Tim, we thank you so much for joining us and look forward to checking back in with you a little later in the race. And uh that’s Tim Dawn, a threetime Olympian and four-time world champion triathlete. Thanks a lot, Tim. And Tim always has good insights. Always. Yeah, I love listening to hearing what he has to say because it’s just those those little bits of knowledge that really have a significant impact on what’s going the way that he can read the race. And as a when he raced as a professional, that’s one thing that he was very good at reading the race. And and that’s part of what you have to do when you are racing. You’ve got to be able to read how not only are you going, but you’ve also got to read into what the other athletes around you are doing. So, I know when I I raced as a professional, it’s like if I was in a group situation, I’d be going, “Okay, typically I could outrun you. I could outrun you. Uhuh. Don’t know if I could outrun you.” So, Reinnie, what would you do? the same sort of thing like if you were in a group situation and you were like looking and like seeing the dynamics and like do you attack? Do you go no this is a comfortable spot or or do you like chance it that the front group because it’s so tactical and now that there’s pressure on that’s going to change what’s happening up the front.
Yeah, I think it it’s case by case, right? And and you’re absolutely right. Like I think when you’re, you know, in a group situation, you sort of take stock of who’s around you, um who’s up the road. It’s a constant um um mathematic equation and and that’s basically how you know I always raced. just it kept my um brain engaged sort of doing the math on who was around me, who was in front of me, and who was behind me and um trying to um you know get ahead of anyone who could possibly outrun me and um and limit the deficit to the athletes that maybe I wasn’t going to catch until hopefully in the run at some point. So yeah, it’s definitely um you know calculating all day long like what um sort of output I need to to put out obviously what can I put out and what do I have? Um so yeah, a lot of um you know analyzing your body, where you’re at, how you’re feeling, whether you can push harder. Um yeah, a lot of that going on. But we’re with um El’s Vissa here and she is in that chase pack and and that chase pack is is holding steady at around four four minutes back. um they’ve been sitting around there. They brought it down to 3 minutes at one point and then uh it seemed Cat and Laura started to ride a little stronger and uh then it went up to back up to four minutes. So yeah, they’re kind of hanging out there and as Tim said, you it’s not blowing out. you know, you sort of you don’t expect it, but you know, with Cat Matthews on the start line and and Laura Phillip, two of the best bikers in the sport, that can happen. But then you look down and you’re like, well, it’s not blowing out because Annie Richman’s in that pack, because El’s Vissa is in that pack, for Sarah Spank is in that pack. Um, so you some very strong riders in their own right. So yeah, I mean we certainly have a race on our hands and you know we with um SVG Love as well rolling off the front. I mean this is an unknown quantity like what is she capable of running? She ran a 116 at the half off a 206 bike so a very hard bike ride. This is you know not apples to apples double the distance is not just like you know stepping up from Olympic distance as you mentioned earlier. It’s it’s a whole different ballgame. So much um relies on pacing. So much relies on the nutrition you’re taking in, the hydration, making sure you’ve you know got your salts right and um you know all of you know you’re absorbing all of that food um that you’re putting into your stomach. So um yeah, still a long way to go and I’m really intrigued to see how uh Solve does or how she looks coming off the bike. And I think one thing that uh female athletes do really well is preparation. And I think that’s what we’re seeing right here. Everyone knew that this was a European championship. They also know, you know, if you are going for a Kona slot, I believe there’s how many slots in this race?
There’s five slots for this race.
Five slots for this race. So that’s Tim talked about like racing within the race because you know you got a couple of things to think about. You have the Iron Man Pro Series. You have um a Kona five Kona slots. So, you know, you prepared yourself really well to make sure you get one of those Kona slots, you’re doing everything possible. And then you also had the fact that this race, as Cat says, you get this race done, she’s already done her Iron Man Texas, she has a chance to really focus in and just concentrate on the Iron Man World Championship. And I think that’s really important. And I think that’s why we’re seeing such close racing um up the front and then that second pack hasn’t like blown out like Tim says is because everyone’s prepared really well. Yeah. And it comes down to also like Tim says, every second counts. So you have to like if you want to play the game, you’ve got to stay in the game. And I think everyone right now is doing a really good job of staying in the game. So now getting a little bit of a talking to from the referee and I think it was just that she was not falling back um immediately as soon as Cat went by her. She needed to start making backward progress and within 25 seconds she should be back outside that 12 m zone. But going back to what we were talking about with Kona qualifiers. Um Laura Phillip already has her spot by virtue of winning the World Champs last year. Cat Matthews already has her spot from Texas. Annie Richman won uh the uh eur the African championship South Africa.
South Africa. Uh she has hers. Sarah Spank has hers. Um Henrique Goober has hers as well. So you’re looking at Margelane’s looking for a spot. Jackie Herring’s looking for a spot. Danielle Lewis Elvis Vissa. Um so yeah, I mean there’s already six spots that are gone. Um but five on the line. So a lot to race for. We are past the halfway point. These are the leading women out on course right now. Here’s Elizabeth in the middle of the perfect workout for her. To create it, we analyzed her biometrics and genetics, her recovery rate, injury risk, and aerobic potential, her recent training sessions, the temperature, humidity, and elevation, the demands of her next race, and billions of data points from athletes just like her. With Trot, Elizabeth gets faster, faster. And what does she have to do?
I just opened Trid Dot and did my workout.
Trot, we do the technology, you do the training. You’re watching the Qatar Iron Man Hamburg European Championship. I’m Miranda Carafrey joined by McKilly Jones. And we are well past halfway. We have 40 miles to go left in the Zoot Bike Course. And we are watching the chase pack here. This is Melan Pierre in screen going around taking that corner nicely in her Arab bars. And this is Chase pack of five. Margelain Pierre, we have El’s Visor, Sarah Spank, Annie Richman, and Yenni Yendri. And Reinnie, let’s give everyone a little update. um with Jackie Herring as well, our defending champion. Um unfortunately, you know, she’s hauling back. We saw her get that um flat tire and she’s essentially riding on a very flat rear wheel. So, we’re not sure what she’s going to do if she’s just waiting for a mechanical um change or help. Um there are some um stationary mechanical stations out there. So she just needs to ride up on on that and she’s just going to have to decide if she can find a wheel or she’s just going to continue riding on that that flat tire. Um obviously the that flat tire is just going to make it even tougher to to get anywhere near back in the race at this point. She’s roared all the way down from fourth place down to 12th place right now at 13 30 back and and don’t forget she was in that basically second pack for a long time. So definitely losing a lot of time right now unfortunately.
Yeah, she’s lost almost 10 minutes in the last probably 20 miles. So um just going backwards. So I that tells me that flat tire is really um really low and you know she is or maybe she has stopped and pulled over and is trying to get it fixed. But uh yeah really unfortunate for Jackie. She was second in the IM Pro Series last year. Uh won this race of course we just mentioned um but she also needs a Kona slot so she’s vying for one of those Kona slots. She does plan to race Iron Man in Lake Placid a little bit later in the year, but she might um want to try and find another race if this keeps going the way it’s going right now. But we’re looking at Ann Riceman, and she is leading the chase. So, she’s sitting in fourth place. She’s riding very well. Of course, she biked extremely well um in Man South Africa. was able to make it to the lead in that race and hopped off the bike basically in the lead and ran away with the win.
And what’s interesting about her obviously um she actually grew up as a runner, but then a knee injury in 2016 was the catalyst to start swimming and cycling to stay fit. And we see that a lot with endurance athletes. They get injured on the run and then they turn to swimming or cycling to maintain their fitness. Um, I think in 2018 she turned pro and uh I think 2019 um it was her rookie season. But you know she’s had some great races. First in Iron Man Portugal as well as in 2023 and we caught up with Annie before the race. Let’s hear what she had to say about today’s race. Hi, my name is Anna Rashman and I’m from Germany and we are here at Iron Man Germany in Hamburg. training has been going really well to be honest the last few weeks and also before YZO the training has been great so I was very optimistic and looking forward to Yzelo but um yeah just didn’t have a good day uh struggled breathing and uh yeah it was always a hard task to do a 70.3 in the middle of an iron man block uh and my coach said you can race but don’t expect this to be like an A race uh the A race is now in Hamburg so hopefully um yeah I’m a lot better prepared and fresher uh to to the line on Sun Sunday. Yeah, I I really enjoy racing the big names uh every now and then to also know how far are they still ahead? Did I manage to close the gap a little bit? Are they maybe in like in reach to be to to be um and uh so yeah, I really enjoy having having so many um incredible names on a star list and obviously the attention for this race is just insane. the the pro panel with like a a room full of people and lots of media. I don’t think we would have that without the big names here. Thanks to Annie Richman for sharing a few of her thoughts prior to the race here and we’re looking at um the pack that she’s in right now. It looks like there’s a little bit of confusion. Uh people are, you know, soft pedaling in the back there. Um athletes trying to get around. I’m not sure what’s holding them up, but it seems like probably the age groupers. So, the women are now on their second of two laps, and I’m going to guess that there’s some age groupers. Yes, there we see it. Um,
that was a very narrow part of the course.
So, it wasn’t safe to pass around um that age grouper and and now you see the women pushing on, but uh that’s a frustrating uh reality when you’re riding on a twolap course. um just something the athletes have to deal with. And um yeah, but Annie Rashman looking super arrow and sleek in that black kit. Um you see her continuing to put her head down and you know she actually has a different um arm carriage. So you’re seeing a lot of the athletes have their arms up. the angle is up and as you mentioned earlier it’s like a you know 35 to 45 deg angle. Her hers is sort of more old school. It’s more flat.
Yeah. But she’s closed the gap though. If you look from her head to the water bottle to the arms that’s quite a natural closure for her. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s where I think, you know, going into the wind tunnel is really significant because like when I went into the wind tunnel back in the day, it was always thought that you shouldn’t put it it was less aerodynamic to put water bottles behind you, but for me it actually was more aerodynamic. So I mean that’s why it becomes very individualized that you know for one you’re trying to be as aerodynamic as you can be but you also have to put the power down and maybe that positioning for her is much more efficient than say being in that more like uh 30 to 45 degree angle. And you know, it’s also how much you can um move the the adaptability of that front end around because certain bikes have less adaptability as well. So, it can be a little bit restrictive that maybe that’s the setup that that that she can use um based on her aerodynamics, based on what the bike um changes are capable of doing at that front end. And we are back with the race leaders, Cat Matthews, Laura Phillip, and Soul, sorry, Solvang Love Seth. Uh, she is just about to come around Laura Phillip right now. So, Svang, of course, the last time we saw her at this section was where where that mechanical happened and her arrow bar sort of flipped to the side. She rode, you know, a solid 20 or 30 miles um on one arrow bar and one base bar um and then was able to get that fixed. Uh she’s pulled off to the side for around a minute. Got that fixed and then bridged back up to the ladies and and she looks great. She there’s not really much pain on her face. She looks like she’s barely breathing. She’s feels like to me like she’s comfortable and um riding within herself which is you know very important um given that this is an Iron Man and and her first one at that. Yeah Reie for sure. I mean obviously her composure through through the whole scenario of of that mechanical was was very mature for one. Um, obviously we know when we uh heard from her earlier that she’s willing to risk it
for the biscuit.
Yes, we’re definitely willing to to blow up was her words. So, yeah. And I think I think the next time check that we see, it’s going to be interesting to see if I hate to say it again, if that front group is is more cat and mouse again and that’s going to allow that second group to catch back up because we’ve seen that go from 3 to four minutes. So if they can duck down closer to that 3 minutes, I would say it’s again it’s a little bit more tactical. And you know when when we look at what’s happening in that front group with Cat um Laura and Los you know it’s it’s really interesting because I feel that Cat is doing a lot of the work at the front. I feel like Los Seth is also doing quite a lot of work at the front. And I feel like maybe at the end of the day, we’re going to say that Laura Phillip rode a little more tactically smart and let everyone else sort of like take charge. Not that Laura uh Laura Phillips hasn’t been on the front, but if we were going to go back to percentages, I definitely feel that the percentages are a lot higher for the other two athletes. But, you know, and that’s that’s fine. That’s tactics. you know, you can decide to, you know, work at the front as much as you can. You can decide to sit within the legal limits of the drafting. And I mean, every athlete is individual when it comes to that. Like I think Kath Matthews is the type of athletes that’s that that wants to be at the race. She wants to control it. as um Tim Don said, you know, that that military background is definitely um a part of her psyche. But, you know, it’s it’s just interesting. I like if we sat down and like looked at what was going in the mindset right now of each one of these athletes. It’s like we’ve got the rookie loss, right? She’s got absolutely nothing to lose, right? And she is so confident because when you look at what she’s doing right now, she’s riding with the fastest two athletes ever.
Mhm.
And she’s in the mix. She caught up by a minute. That’s going to give her even more confidence that you know what, these may be people that other people look at up to, but not for me. I’m going to challenge them. And that’s exactly what she’s doing. And then you look at Laura Phillip. Again, I like the way that Tim Dawn said, you know what, the pressure is on her more than say Cat. But I would maybe have to disagree because if because Cat has the fastest time ever. That has to put like a little bit more pressure than if she didn’t. And interesting you say that because uh Laura sort of before the race was like, I’ve got nothing to lose here. I’m here because I want to race. I don’t have to race. I already have my Kona qualification. Taking the pressure off. I’m not trying to, you know, win a pro series. And and Cat in her AFC we we saw earlier in in the race. She said that she was um feeling the pressure. I’m starting to I feel the pressure for this race. I feel a little nervous. And yes, last year Cat did come to this race and she had that u mechanical and then you know was disqualified for a no passing zone. But, uh, yeah, I mean, I think there’s two different mindsets coming into this race. It’s funny you say that because Laura Phillip actually talked about being nervous. She said, “I might look calm from the outside, but I am definitely very nervous before such a big race. I take this part of the mental prep even though it can be challenging to not get caught up by panic mode. I try to focus on things I can influence and mostly believe in myself and my ability to perform under pressure. Wow. I think anytime you’re a world champion, right? Like yes, everyone’s looking, you know, the the momentum’s in Cat’s favor, right? like she won the IM Pro Series last year. She was second at Nice. She was second at 70.3 Worlds. She came in and knocked it out of the park. Rode almost as fast as Taylor Nib, who’s arguably the fastest um time trialist in our sport. Um in Texas, went 810, which is insane. Um and then yeah, now she’s rolling into Hamburg and the there’s a big target on her back like okay, you’re setting you know this you’re um lifting the bar yet again and you are the one to follow. Whereas Laura Phillips come into the season super low key. She raced last weekend in Germany, won that race uh fairly handily. Um but yeah, I mean I think she’s still the world champion and you know that is with that comes you know responsibility with that comes uh its own uh unique um sort of pressure uh that you bring into each race. So I you know I think both women have you know pressure going into the race but um yeah I mean I think we’ll have to see. I I I do like the way Laura Phillip has been racing, sitting in on the swim, having a phenomenal swim, too, by the way. And and then in the bike, um certainly when we’ve been watching the front pack, uh she hasn’t spent a lot of time on the front. And again, maybe she has, you know, when we haven’t been, you know, watching her and we haven’t been able to watch her for every second of this race. But it does seem like um Love, Seth and Matthews are the aggressors on the bike and Laura Phillips happy to just sort of sit and, you know, let them, you know, push the pace and and she’s happy to just sort of sit back and um, you know, get through this bike ride and and see what happens on the run.
Yeah. And as I said, you know, there’s nothing wrong that with that. You know, it’s it’s tactics. I think when we look back at the swim and was it frustration that we saw from Cat Matthews that, you know, she stopped a few times and she sort of was like looking at the other athletes like, you know, it was like one of those things. What was she trying to achieve? was it like obviously it wasn’t the the desired plan that she wanted because she didn’t want to see Laura in the swim and now on the bike they have been playing that that that little back and forth game that’s for sure and then you have that third element that unknown element of loth love Seth so it’s like it’s just really interesting the dynamics that are going on right now we We have Rebecca and on our screen. Uh she’s sitting in the top 10 right now, just at 10th place. So yeah, it’s always interesting to see like as I said, there’s different personalities that come to play in in the race. Like right now, I think the overconfidence could be coming from our rookie, but there’s nothing wrong with that, right? Like as you talked about, it’s like you don’t know.
Yeah.
You you what you don’t know is what you don’t know. And I think that’s a good perspective. I mean, when when you go into a race, you know, like when I went into my first ever Iron Man, it’s like, well, you know what? This pace feels pretty good.
And like when I was running and I was running like like almost like under five minute mile pace at the beginning, like around 520, I’m like, “Oh, this feels good.” And then all of a sudden it didn’t. But, you know, that’s the that’s the whole point of having someone who doesn’t know what it’s like to race an Iron Man. And I think it’s so advantageous to have somebody like that who who is coming from a short background and obviously is a great swimmer, obviously a great biker, and we know she can run at a 70.3. So, you know, it’s like why not, you know, how many Iron Man races do we do in a lifetime?
You know, I think you are. I think it was Jackie Herring, right? This was going to be her 27th Iron Man. And don’t forget,
she didn’t race one for a long time. Like last year it was like, wasn’t it like a 10 year hiatus or something?
She had like a 10 year break. She had her, you know, children race 70.3 the shorter distance while they were young and now they’re a little older and in school and she has time to go and ride her bike all day. And Reinnie, there’s more knowledge now. Yes. So, it’s like back in the day, it’s like, you know, if you did your first Iron Man, there wasn’t all this knowledge that that there is out now. There’s so many ways to like get better and prepare yourself. The coaching has gotten better, the nutrition’s got it better, the biking’s got, the running shoes have got better. Like, all these things have made it so you I don’t think anymore that you can say a rookie can’t win. I think because there’s so much knowledge that like a rookie has every chance as somebody who’s done like Jackie Herring 27 Iron Man races.
Well, yeah. If you’ve Yeah. I mean, I I think that she’s a special talent and and by virtue of how fast she can race the 70.3 distance. Um, you know, we see athletes come up from Olympic distance and and try to do the 70.3 and they just don’t quite have it. She clearly has it. She can time travel troll a bike. She can run a fast half marathon off the bike. And no, it’s not. Again, you know, going from Olympic distance to half is very different from going to from, you know, half to a full, but she’s half halfway there, right? Like she can race at half very fast. She can time trial very well. She’s very strong on the bike, and that’s a big piece of the puzzle. Um, then just being efficient on the run and putting down a fast marathon time. I mean that remains to be seen and I you know I feel um like you know the last 10 or 12 kilometers of this marathon are going to be confronting. They are for everybody but when you’ve only doing it for the first time you’re like wow this really is tough. This is tougher than I thought. Um so yeah I mean that’s all yet to come for her. But right now you know she feels good. She may as well just go with it. Yeah. like why not set the fastest ever rookie Iron Man time which is probably what she’s on on track to do right now. So incredible from Love Seth leading the two fastest women in the world ever at Iron Man distance. We have Love Seth in first, Matthews in second, Philip in third, Riceman leading the charge of the Chasers and Vissa in fifth. TheQatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship is in the closing miles of this bike where 27 miles to go. I am Marina Carafrey joined by Mackily Jones and we are watching the chase pack here. This is Elle’s Vissa. She is riding along with Annie Richman and they are pushing pushing hard here. They’re around five minutes down from the lead trio of Love Set, Matthews, and Phillip. And we have threetime world, sorry, four-time world champion, three-time Olympian Tim Dawn on with us joining us here again. And Tim, any any further thoughts on on the race and how it’s um unfolding? Sorry, Tim. We’re having a little bit of a technical difficulty. Um, you were no sound. Um, so we’ll check back in with Tim in a few moments.
Just hold that thought.
Hold that thought.
That was just a practice run. Um El’s visor is on our screen right now and you know like 10 minutes ago we were saying how awesome she looked and yeah she’s charged to the front. Looks so smooth, so relaxed. Uh I would love to see just a slightly better angle on the arrow helmet if I was going to be super picky. Um but like who am I to say when she is riding as as fast as she’s riding? But, you know, if you are a perfectionist, that would probably be the only one thing. It’s like, and then, you know, when we look at Margeline Pierre, it’s like, I’m like, that ponytail,
it’s blowing in the wind.
Tuck it in.
Got to save what’s got to save.
I remember my old um well, you know, Jim Felt, our old sponsor from Felt. used to go crazy when you know the athletes would have their ponytails hanging out and um numbers flapping around in the breeze and you know
well you know sometimes the numbers flapping around you you can’t control that that’s like a requirement but
that that uh that that hair is definitely uh slowing it down it’s an extra
it’s not maybe she went in the wind power maybe she went in the wind tunnel and it’s actually the total opposite but no she looks so good and uh she’s the youngest is professional in our field at 25. Already done three Iron Man distance races. This is her third.
This is her third. Yeah, sorry. This is number three.
Uh it just looks so smooth. And you know, you see it every now and again just sitting up getting out of the saddle and
and there’s only like one or two small little pinches on this course. most of it is like relatively flat and you know obviously when we get into town the roads get a little bit rougher but yeah this is something that you’ll probably see a few of the more athletes doing as we get to the closing stages we have 41.6 six kilometers left to ride. So that’s going to like be right around an hour left. Um particularly when if they’re riding um around that 40 km an hour which they were earlier. I mean it has dipped down a couple of times to 25 26 that’s just telling you the nature of the course. So yeah she looks very very good. as I said, our youngest um athlete on course right now. And you know, she’s one that you know, you’re going to watch. I mean, she’s already been so successful in the two other Iron Man she’s done. Yep.
Last year in Nice, actually led the Iron Man World Championships for a long time. It actually took a long time for Cat Matthews and Laura Phillip to actually catch up to her obviously hometown advantage being in France. She knows those roads.
And that’s I think that’s the big difference when you go to races that are a little technical and and quite hilly. You know, it’s definitely a different skill set. And I was talking to one of my athletes the other day and and we were talking about it and it’s like, well, you know, genetically you have that that I’ll do anything gene and then you have the gene that’s a little bit more cautious. Which one are you? you the cautious Jean or are you the like I’m going to go as fast as I can and I have no feel fear
I think um it depends how old I was 25y old um absolutely 40 plus year old I am way on the other end of the spectrum now so um
I don’t know I raced you a few times Rinnie and uh I definitely know that you threw it down on those corners and those descents
yes I did but uh once I had kids I I think everything everything changes.
I must say though, it’s because you know your center of gravity is
is a little just a little Yeah, I’m a little bit higher. I’m going to I got to get a bit lower sometimes on my bike. And yeah, just speaking of Margeline uh for a moment here since we’re still on her. Um she’s been a pro since 2021, so not too many years racing pro. She was a gymnast growing up and switched to triathlon and did her first 70.3 in 2019. Um, so yeah, she relatively new and again she was fourth in Nice and and won in Portugal in 2023. So, um, third Iron Man event here. She is hoping to qualify for Kona. Um, and she did say that she is not targeting the Iron Man Pro Series. Uh, she’s just, you know, getting this Iron Man out of the way to qualify for Kona so she can go and race in Kona this year. Uh, which is a magical place to do a triathlon. um brutal but also beautiful. Uh and uh yeah, she said she’ll be targeting the IMA Pro Series when she’s a little older. So at 25 years young, I think that is a very smart wise choice. That being said, I think if she gets a lot of points today, maybe she’ll be tempted to She did get maximum points a couple weeks ago in Axon Provence in France and got that 2500 point um day there. So, if she has a a great race here today, she might be be tempted. But, uh, back to El’s Vissa and Annie Riceman. You see Annie passing El’s and and earlier, you know, on the split screen, you saw Annie Riceman sort of throwing her hands up in the air. Someone else take a lead. And, um, that’s when El’s Vissa went around and and took a lead. And maybe Annie’s not realizing that this pack of, you know, was five women is now sort of down to uh, I think three or four. We saw Sarah Spank had fallen off the back. I believe Margeline Pierre is right behind these two women. So, it’s at least three strong and there was one other woman um in that group too. So, um yeah, as we said, the last 40k, the last hour of racing uh is when the cracks start to show. The shoulders are starting to get a little tight. Uh the saddle is not as comfortable as it was in the first hour and a half, two hours. Um maybe you know and and if you’re starting to feel those things as sort of indicators of okay maybe I need a few more calories. Um I’m getting a little cranky.
Little caffeine.
Little caffeine might help at that at that time. So some of those um you know those first two or three hours on the bike maybe you were a little under fueled um if you’re feeling that way. And honestly I think everyone at this point is sort of starting to feel like I’d like to get off the bike. The only downside or tough tough thing is that now you got to run a marathon. So, the pain does not stop yet.
No, it certainly it doesn’t. And you know, with this twoloop bike course, um it’s it’s sometimes frustrating when you have to go through the field, but then it’s also motivating. It’s like, you know, you can play these little mental games where you can start counting how many people you pass, and it’s sort of like another distraction. I mean e even though you have this internal dialogue constantly going and asking yourself how am I feeling how’s my pace what do I need and then it’s like you know some people may count like how many pedal strokes they do some people may take like a deep belly breath all the way past their belly button it’s like you know it’s these little games that you play with yourself and I always laugh um how I can often and every single time trick my brain when I’m out training. It’s like today I’m just going to go run an hour and then I’m like, “Oh, I’ll just run another mile. I’ll just run another mile.” And I mean, that’s exactly the same things that go through these athletes head. It’s like it’s amazing how much you can trick the mind and do the same thing to it over and over again. But, you know, that’s that’s part of I I sort of laugh at myself every time I negotiate with myself. You know, it’s a little bit like when you get up in the morning. It’s like, you know, if I get up now, it’s done. And then it’s like, well, if I don’t get up, I get to sleep in. I can do it later. And it’s like, you know, you’re constantly having this little conversation in this dialogue inside your head. And it doesn’t matter if you’re an age group athlete or you’re a professional athlete, those negative thoughts are also going to creep in. Like, if only I could slow down a little bit. if only I decided not to do this race. It’s like and you know there’s times when you’re like, “Oh my goodness, my legs feel terrible and you can still do really well.”
Absolutely. Um and we’re rolling along with Margeline Pierre and we do believe we have Tim Dawn back on the line. He’s a three-time Olympian, four-time world champion. Tim, are you there?
I am here. Hi.
Excellent. Yes, we can hear you now. Yes. Oh, fantastic. I’m glad. Um, wow. The race the race is all not not really changing so far. Those gaps are really staying constant. That second group is really really riding well. I’m sure they must be getting splits on that on on the course because they’re basically the time they lost in the swim is the time they are behind um Cat, Laura, and um uh yeah, that lead group. So yeah, it’s going to be an interesting um run into transition. Yeah, absolutely. It looks like yeah, they’re sitting around 430 back now and and that has yo-yoed a little bit. We did get down to 3 minutes at one point and then um out as much as 5 minutes, but it seems like El’s and Annie are really being more aggressive now on the bike, wouldn’t you say? Definitely. And going back to the pro series in South Africa um that um that’s how Annie rode the race. She really had a a balanced bike. She rode her own race. She she biked her way throughout the race towards the front and then when she got there she just carried on going. Um you know she’s run her last two Iron Man races. So without a doubt her team will be thinking that she can she can fight for it. Um but we have not yet to see a sub three-hour marathon. And I think it maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s going to take a lot quicker than that. But she’s putting herself in a position to fight for a podium. Um and she looks good on the bike. You can see her upper body is locked into that position and you know those pedals are just being driven down. So yeah, very impressive bike ride from um from Annie. Yeah, absolutely. And uh talking about run times, Tim Laura Phillip, I’m not sure if the course is exactly the same, but when she set that course record time in 22, she ran a 245. Um so yeah, a little bit quicker than that 3-hour mark. And of course, you know, Cat Matthews is renowned for throwing down, you know, 250 and below um as well. So I you know four minutes back uh definitely will have to run a very fast marathon to to you know be in the ballpark of of a podium spot. Absolutely. I think um you know but we’ve still you know a lot can happen you know obviously it looks like um Jackie’s um you know dropped really far back because of that that rear puncher. It’s interesting it’s the same wheel that the athlete got the puncher in St. George. So, you know, little things like that you you know, you need to just keep an eye on as a sponsored athlete and as a um you know, um because you don’t want the this to be a um a running issue. But, um yeah, I I’m just fascinated now. You can see they’re catching the age groupers, but the field isn’t too thick. The other great thing is we haven’t seen many of the age groupers interfering who are the faster age groupers with the women’s racing. And that is what I really love about when we, you know, we have the European champs in Hamburg for the women. so they can get a much cleaner race. I think that’s just something that that that’s really, you know, bringing on the best racing we’re seeing from these women. And Tim, I think it also helps when we we’re headed into an Iron Man World Championship that that we we really see what what those performances are without any uh external forces. Would you agree with that as well that we’re sort of getting a much truer reading on on where the race field and the tactics are? Definitely. And the thing that the pro series has done is it’s bought the best of the best racing each other. There there before we had the pro series, there was one race a year normally Kona and Iron Man Nice when it was when it’s the world championships were the best of the best. Apart from that, you can one of a better word avoid each other. you can all win an Iron Man and then when you go to the World Champs, the dynamics are different. Um, and I think, you know, now the Pro Series is bringing the the the first and second um, you know, from last year’s World Championships together. Um, someone’s already won Iron Man South Africa and they’re come here to the European Champs. They’re not they’re not avoiding. I think the we’re getting smarter with our training and our fueling within our training. So, athletes are racing a lot more. Five, six, seven, 15 years ago, people would do two iron men a year, maybe five or six 70.3s. Well, definitely now there’s the capability and the the the methodology and the training where they can do, you know, three iron men a year very very competitively. Um, and I love that because don’t we love seeing the best of the best race each other?
Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s the beauty of the Pro Series and I think um the pros now just have so many wonderful opportunities to race. Uh lots of prize money and lots at stake um for the athletes. But yeah, we’re now back with the leaders and that’s Laura Phillip sitting in the back. What talk a little bit about, you know, you mentioned earlier about um Laura Phillip and how she’s playing this race. Um yeah, what any further thoughts on that?
Yeah, I I think she’s playing it really smart. I I do think at that 90 kilometer mark that maybe Fat or Laura would have attacked in the technical area, tried to get away because once that elastic’s gone, it can alter the race. But I think now they’ve got to the stage where to to to kind of ride away from from this lead group to splinter and split up. The amount of power, the amount of energy they’d have to exert will be too much. And it’s not a long enough, you know, it’s kind of like their heart rate would have to go a lot higher, their power would have to go a lot higher. and it’s too close to the run and it would affect the run. So effectively I think they’re waiting they’re waiting for the run and the best place when there’s three of you is right at the back. It’s not a technical course, you know, it’s not a big pack where concerts and you’re always, you know, you’re often working as hard as the the person at the front at the back. They’re in their aerobars. They’re overtaking light traffic. You know, the the road surface outside of Hamburg City is very smooth, so they’re not having to dodge potholes. Um, one thing I did notice this love set, she she had lots of fuel on her bike. She’s got two bottles behind her. She’s got two bottles in the frame and one bottle um in between her arms. Um um Laura and Cat on the other hand only have two bottles because they’re using the Encourse nutrition as well. So, it’s just fascinating that, you know, she’s obviously she trains a lot with um the Norwegians. You know, they’ve been up at Sierra Nevada at high altitude with Christian and Gustaf have been there. I know she’s been training with them. So, she’s obviously got, you know, as as much as she hasn’t raced an Iron Man, those two athletes are pretty good to pick their brains um and their coaching team to to how to race an Iron Man.
So, Tim, in terms of metabolic profiling, talk a little bit about that and how that re relates to like nutrition if you can. Well, I I think um you know, we need to get from A to B and that’s a long way. It’s going to be eight hours, maybe under eight hours, let’s see, today for for these women. And you need to fuel fuel the body and you know, the burn rate, everyone is different. Your core temperature, you know, in a hotter race like Texas and Kona, you know, you’re you’re burning hotter, so you need more more fuel. Um so I think here the athletes, you know, the golden, not the golden rule because everything’s changing. You know, we saw Camworth and Iron Man Texas have 200 grams of carbohydrate. I think he had 28 Morton gels on the bike, which is I think one every eight minutes. I mean, golly gosh, I I don’t know how his body, you know, could tolerate that and process it. But I um but these athletes are definitely looking like Cat’s having a stretch there, but she’s on the front. You don’t really want to do that. She’s looking back there. She’s going, “Come on, come through. I do not want to sit on the front.” probably just press the bike computer looking at her numbers, making sure you know she’s not going too hard, too easy. But um yeah, again, it’s hydration as well as the as fueling. But um these athletes will be looking at consuming 100 grams of carbohydrate per hour. So that’s maybe two to three drills, but then they have a car carbo mix on the on in their bottles. Um someone like loves sex, she maybe prefers the liquid form. That’s why she’s got lots of bottles. You know, obviously the problem with that is it’s more volume. The gels or maybe an energy bar, some chews, you know, you can put it in your frame. You know, there are different storage solutions on on various bike models. You can see the pace there has dropped off. So, a change, but Laura Phillips is not not biting. She is quite happy to sit there. Yeah, that’s our our read on it too. Tim just uh sit sat in in the swim. Obviously, a very good swim from her. Uh sitting with Cat. Uh she normally um loses a little bit of time to cat but had a great swim today and now she’s sort of just keeping out her nose out of out of the wind. Um and of course you know you can’t completely you do get a little bit of a benefit benefit sitting behind but uh it’s it’s not the same as riding up the front. But you know she’s just kind of in there hanging in there and like hey ladies I’m still here and uh I’ll be here for the the whole race. And uh talking about um Cat Matthews comments before the race, uh she said uh yeah, I don’t want to see I’d like to put some time into Laura. All she really was talking about was Laura. I want to put some time into Laura. I’d like to in the swim. I don’t want to see her on the bike. In fact, I’d love to put more time into her on the bike and hopefully never see her all day. Um this is exactly the opposite to what she was hoping. And I love that about Cat. she comes out and says how she wants to race and she’s not afraid to, you know, put a cat amongst the pigeons with with um you know, she’s she’s she’s headstrong there and yeah, that’s how I would love to race. But I’m sure in her mind, you know, I often talk about this with the athletes is bulletproof. You need to think of every scenario that might happen and it might be you’re behind in the swim or it might be you’re leading in in the swim. But um you know, they say you can’t often win a race in the swim, but you can lose it. And I think I think um Laura has set herself up there. But the interesting thing is is Cat has been a pro for only well six, seven years and her run well her bike’s improving and her run hasn’t dropped off. And that’s fascinating. She did run very fast in Texas in hot and humid conditions and obviously in Nice the World Championships she got the cramps on the run. Um some lower leg issues so she got dropped. But I it’ll be interesting to see you know if she’s changed her fueling strategy, her pacing plus another winter of training. She’s she hasn’t been a pro for 10 15 years. Um the first half of that run is going to is going to maybe set themselves up. Are they going to kind of blow themselves to smitherines or are they going to you know let one go? Are they just going to run on each other’s shoulders stick to their strategy? Um yeah it’s it’s fascinating but Laura Phillips you know hasn’t put a foot wrong but saying that Norah’s cat because you know she’s got confidence and confidence is a powerful thing in in Iron Man. No, it certainly is. And I’m glad you sort of bought up about a little bit about the the run because that was that was my next question because when they came out of the the swim, Laura and um Cat, it was like Laura did exactly what she was doing now. She just stayed right behind on the shoulder. And it’s like these two athletes in Nice ran shoulderto-shoulder for a long time. And it was Cat Matthews who started to struggle and that’s where um Philillip gained so much. But yeah, I like the fact that you said that Cat Matthews hasn’t lost anything, but her bike’s getting better because that’s what’s been happening. So, who do you think’s going to be the aggressor when they we get off the bike? Do you think it’s going to be, you know, they’re going to come into transition um and then they’re just going to like run together? I think I personally think there’s going to be like a a three show and I think that’s the X factor is we don’t know how Love Set’s going to run. We know she’s going to run hopefully well hopefully for the whole marathon. But she she’s definitely got the pedigree from her 70.3 performances to oh gosh that back marker nearly took her out. Um she’s definitely got the pedigree to run the first 10k, 15k, hopefully up to 21k. And if she’s if Love Set’s still there with Cat and Laura, it’s going to be they’re going to be looking at each other going, “Oh my gosh.” You know, if you focus on one element of a race, you can get blindsided by by other people. And I do I think they’re going to go they’re going to go for it. They’re going to be on each other’s shoulders pushing each other. Um you know, I think with Cat, they say if you don’t win, you’ve you’ve got to learn. And I’m sure she learned a lot from Nie. And you know like this bike I think is going to be very much within Laura and Cat. I mean Cat rode almost the same same pace as Taylor Nib who went to the Olympics for time triing let alone Olympic distance triathlon and is one of the most revered biker in the sport at the moment. So um looks like Laura’s Laura’s skilled look she’s always in her arrow bars. She’s not giving anything away. She’s holding that position. Um, you know, I think I think all three of these women will be believing they can win right now and and so they should. And Tim, what’s the danger in that like that um coming? We’ll we’ll actually uh hold that thought because uh we are going to go for a break, but we want you to stick around um and we’ll chat with you again on the other side of this break. But right now, we have lead three women 25 km until the Ruby T2 and we get to see an epic run battle. An exciting race on our hands, ladies and gentlemen. Here’s Elizabeth in the middle of the perfect workout for her. To create it, we analyzed her biometrics and genetics, We’re watching the 2025 Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship. I’m Marina Carafrey and joined by Mackily Jones and we have Tim Dawn as well joining us for some great insight on this women’s race right now watching El’s Vissa and this is that chase pack elves with Annie Richman and also Majelane Pierre and Yenni Yenderstick. Tim, how’s it going?
It’s good. I mean, I I think Margelene might have just rolling off the back of that that group. So, the the pressure’s definitely been put on and it looks like the lead three have have increased their lead as well. So, um they definitely saving saving some of that energy for the last 30 to 40k um seems to be important um on this course. Yeah, I was just saying right uh when we uh disappeared for a few seconds that uh Elle’s visor was looking so strong. She was looking very comfortable and she actually has a slightly faster marathon than Rice Man. So, uh, it’s going to be very interesting when those two get off the bike, uh, as well because I mean, I think there’s maybe like three or four minutes difference in their PBS for the half marathon. And Elvisa, she went to South Africa and that’s a big trip from Europe. She didn’t finish, so her season plan might have changed, but she definitely wants to get, you know, some of those pro series points um, on the board. But yeah, I mean this is a fast this is a faster run course than most of them out there, especially Iron Man South Africa. It can be very fast one way and then you have a headwind on the way back. It’s kind of like along the prominard. Fantastic course. Um so that will be interesting. But it does look like we’re seeing here Margelene and it does look like she has fallen off the back. But again, this far into a race, if if you have those limits of what your heart rate’s going to be, you know, what your power is, you know, what you your power is going to be, you can’t break it because you still have to run a marathon. Um, so she’s probably thinking, I’m going to let those ladies go. We haven’t got long. This is a long-term gain, not a short-term loss. Absolutely. And Margeline Pierre, we’ve seen her really shine on Helia courses. We saw her like light it up in Axen Provence a couple of weeks ago and then in Nice of course um we saw her ride extremely well in the mountains of Nice. So a flatter course for a smaller athlete like Margeline. Tell us about the you know what’s the difference between you know the bigger athletes on a flat course versus a a smaller athlete on a flat course. No, I think um when we talk about power and watts and you know what’s your threshold, it’s 500, 300, you know, it’s often it’s kind of your watts per kilo. How much energy? How many watts do you need per kilogram of of weight? Um so when you are a lighter, lighter bike, lighter, then you need less watts per kilo to kind of push you up the mountain. But when when it’s very flat, it’s more about kind of power, aerodynamics, strength. Um so it’s less less important. Um especially this is this is like insanely flat. I mean um they’ve really put together um the the organizers at in Hamburg a fast course. Um you can see here holding that position that that head you know it could be a little bit lower get that nice smooth line there from Love Set’s back her helmet onto her back just just so the air kind of like hugs onto it and then she can save some more more energy. But um you know that’s the beauty about triathlon is kind of like everyone has their strengths. Swimming, biking, running, hilly, hot. You know we have races all over the world, all over the pro series. But it does look and I’ve heard word from Hamburg downtown that the the dark clouds are rolling in. So you know if if the clouds roll in on that run and it rains, it’s going to drop the temperature. It it’s setting it up for a really really fast time. I think that they’re maybe looking at a 420 424 bike split at the moment which um you know four or five years ago would have been unheard of um for five or six women in one race.
Yeah. And of course the course record here is around 420 from Daniel Blime back in 20 or last year 2024. So um yeah that that time though from a number of women you’re right it’s totally unheard of and again the the bar just keeps rising and uh you know the like you know athletes like Cat Matthews to thank for that uh Taylor Nib as well I think uh she raised the bar last year and Cat’s like okay if that’s where it is um that’s what I’m going to go for. But um yeah it’s just incredible to watch the performances continue to improve. And I think we’re we’re in a golden era for iron man racing at the moment as you know there’s so many variety of races to do and um you know these athletes as well they need to to to sustain their their lifestyle their job you know and and I think they’re doing a great job with sponsors and you know having live events like this are great but at the end of the day I think you know performance is what counts not necessarily results yes they’re great but you can’t control what other people are doing and I think here love set her performance so far MVP. I mean, first Iron Man has a fantastic swim is with the number one and number two athletes in the world. Aerobar breaks, carries on riding, takes turns, stops, fixes it, casually rides back up to them. You know what? I’m really excited to see her run um um today.
I’m glad you actually brought that up because uh the next thing I was going to talk to you about what the previous editions of Iron Man Hamburg have have shown us, right? Like in the past it’s sort of been the aggressive movers but then the steady steady tacticians. I mean last year it was about the light late charges on the run. So is patience going to be rewarded to somebody in the in the lead group? Is it going to be Phillips Matthews or Love Set? Do you think patience is going to be the reward or do you think aggression is going to be the reward? Definitely patience. You know, it’s a long way. A marathon, 42 km, 26 miles. You know, I I’m sure if we see the first lap, there’s four laps on the run, very flat, not a couple of out and backs, but but but a nice flowing course. If we see something kind of like a I don’t know, a 37 minute first 10k. I think um the coaches of the athletes are going to be going, “Oh my gosh, what’s going to happen later?” So, but it takes it takes a strong head to let someone run away from you believing you you can backend that run. And of course, you can’t be too complacent because we we’ve got Elvis Vissa, Annie, you know, we’ve got Margelene who are good athletes, not that far behind as well. So, you know, three of them together, that’s what we want to see. But I I think it will break up pretty quickly. Um it’s just things like, you know, they need to use their their pro special needs. So, as a professional on the run, they get their own aid stations, so they don’t have to carry all of their energy and like electrolytes. They can pick it up on the way. So, I think Tactics, I know that they have lots of support out there, so they’re going to be getting splits um as well along the way.
Yeah, with a fourlap uh run course, too. They’ll be seeing um each other and their um support crew a bunch out on this run course. But yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said it takes a strong head to allow an athlete to run away from you. Cuz there’s a lot of different things that go into marathon racing when you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with your biggest competition. There’s the mental side. Okay, I’m feeling great. I’m running out fast, but then if you run out too fast, you know, that’s maybe a bluff. And so I think it’s going to be an interesting um dynamic when these three women come in the the X Factor Love Set uh and then you know the known quantities in Philip and Matthews. Uh it’s just going to be fascinating to see who is the patient um athlete that sort of okay this is the pace. I know what I’m going to run. I can do this um confident that I can u run down anyone. And then then there’s going to be the, you know, the athlete that, you know, maybe just goes out really tough um and really fast and sort of tries to assert their authority on the other athletes. But um yeah, I’m I’m fascinated by this this trio um coming into T2. Yeah. And I think we’re really going to see see fireworks there, but still, you know, a lot can happen at the end. Um it’s very technical towards the end. They still need to keep on top of their nutrition, their hydration. We can see here um you know going through the aid stations. They’re getting a little bit crowded with some of the the age, you know, 3,000 age groupers. Wow. On their first lap. Um you know, I’m it’s still quite humid. You know, you can see really cooling yourself down there, making sure. Um so yeah, no, I mean the run’s going to be exciting, but you know, like this is what we want. We want the best of the best going headto head. You know, I you always want to win, but you want to win when everyone else has good good days as well. And I I think um yeah, it’s going to be an exciting run. No, I I am definitely looking forward to uh when they get off the bike in 17.8 kilometers and, you know, it’s it’s one of those things when, you know, we’re sitting back and and we’re watching and we’re like, okay, when are we going to see who biked too hard? When are we going to see who went just a little bit wrong on their nutrition? There’s so many ifs right now. And it’s like I’m glad that we’re getting your perspective because I feel like when you used to race, you were so smart at at reading other people. And I think that’s a part of like what’s going to happen on the run. Do you agree that, you know, that athlete that that can for one get in there, dial in their pace, be able to challenge, but also know when to challenge because they’ve they know their competitors so well. They’re reading not only what they’re what’s happening to them, but they’re also reading into what’s happening into the other athletes. talk a little bit about how what you would do if you were in that if you were running with three other people at the at the end of the bike and onto the marathon. What sort of things were you would you be focusing in on? Gosh. I mean, I think um everyone has a different way of approaching a race, but I think I think Cat likes to be in front, you know, she’s she’s an aggressor. she like and and Laura so far today she’s always had not always most of the races she does she has to chase from the swim to the bike and even on the run. So I think Cat’s going to be the one that’s more comfortable. Um you know the world 70.3s um when she’s podium there she’s been in a run race, a foot race. We know that Cat this year she ran a PB over 5,000 meters 5 km um on a fast course in the UK. Um, but yeah, I think it’s I would definitely want to set my own pace early on and not not kind of burn too many matches by going hard. But then again, confidence is a powerful thing. But you can’t you can’t run on gut and confidence for for a whole marathon. That’s just insane. You know, you have to have a strategy. You have to have ceilings. You have to know that you need to get x amount of fuel in carbohydrates, liquid. Um, and and we all know they’re all going to have their Garmin GPS watches on, whatever they are to so they’re they’re going to know that if this is too quick, it’s like, well, are you going to slow down or am I going to slow down? So, um, I would definitely air on the side of caution, but keep the the first fastest athlete within sight. But, um, yeah, let’s let’s see what happens.
Well, both Reinnie and I have bets that Love Set is going to be the one that’s going to be the aggressor early. I just have a feeling she seems she seems very um just confident. Um and I love that. And her natural pace will be quicker because she’s coming from a you know she was at the Olympic Games. You know yes she finished 48 she didn’t have the best race but just to qualify for an Olympic games she has that pedigree of kind of like international racing on the world’s biggest stage. So for her to run out you know off her what is it 116 off a fast spike you know that is quick. So yeah, I do think that her cruise rate might be a bit quicker, but I know when I did my first Iron Man a few years ago in Morca, I was just like, “Go easy. Go easy. I know this feels easy, but I’ve got a long way to go.” So maybe, yeah, maybe in her mind she’ll want to naturally go, but she should be holding herself back because she she is entering into the unknown somewhere where she’s never been before. And that’s exciting. And I think with the Olympic Games last year, that course was was so unpredictable in so many ways for all the athletes, I mean the current on the swim, the the which then set up different dynamics on on the race, too. So even though like yeah, that’s still a like a decent performance, I think she didn’t there’s no way she showed her true potential just because of the whole dynamics that happen in Paris. Absolutely. And let’s not forget, you know, the race almost got cancelled. It was almost a giraffe. The men’s race moved 24 hours. You know, there’s so much going on and it’s you’re in that national federation. You’re in that Olympic village. You’re in that bubble. Um and tactics, you know, if you miss three or four seconds in the swim, have a bad transition. Um all of a sudden you lose a pack. Obviously, it’s drafting in short course in the Olympic Games, so they can ride ride together. Um so yeah, small things that you can miss. you you can’t show your strength on the bike, which obviously she’s a fantastic biker. And then, you know, when it comes to the run, you know, often you’re so far behind that that they did have the team relay. So then she might have been told, you’re not going to, you know, reach the the goal that you want, your performance goal. Let’s save your energy because we have a mixed team relay in 3 days time. So much goes on. It’s not just that result, but she’s definitely she’s maybe more experienced at this kind of highprofile shoulderto-shoulder racing than Cat and Laura because she she is used to that short course racing and as I say with the Norwegian um you know Christian and Gustaf and um yeah given her hopefully some good advice. Um I’m really excited to see see it unfold. Yeah. And we’re now looking at the chases. That’s El’s Vissa. We had Yenni Yender leading this chase now and and Annie Riceman in this trio. Uh Tim, who’s your favorite in this little trio? I I mean I think um Annie Annie, you know, just with her performance in South Africa um you know I mean that was you know on that tough course that was a real performance and arguably today she’s ridden her own race you know and I think that’s smart. she hasn’t had to look over her shoulder. It’s kind of like as we described a race within a race. Um but I think that I think the gaps are going to get bigger on the run, but um and yes, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to get on the podium of an Iron Man Pro Series race, but it’s it’s all about this time. It’s all so whoever’s leading, they need to push on because you know, you know, we’ve got Can’s iron man coming up. We’ve got a barrel of more 70.3s. We obviously got we got Nice. You know, we’ve got some big races coming up and right now today it is about not your position, just your position. It’s about that time. So, I think Annie Annie would be the one to to to push on. But Margie, she she’s a great runner, but as I said, I think she has dropped off that chase group. So, now, you know, she’s lost that advantage of having people around her. Um, so hopefully it’s just a strategic move, not a golly gosh, I’ve gone too fast, too hard, too early. Okay. So, the next athlete that I would love for you to tell us about, uh, Danielle Lewis. Even though she’s almost 10 minutes back, her marathon PB is a lot faster than a lot of those runners in in that in that chase pack. Would you agree? I
I mean, absolutely. And I think um, you know, I think she’s been in Europe for quite a while, so this is a key race. She’s not just flown over on Wednesday. I think her family are with her as well. So, you know, she would have set herself up to do well in a big fast Iron Man. And um you know, if you can run a sub 250 in any Iron Man, you’re going to be knocking on the door of a podium. Um you know, we haven’t talked about her, but she’s been quietly riding. Um looks like she’s she’s got she’s totally on her own. So yes, it’s nice to have people around you, but it does mean on that bike that you can um you know, focus, you know, just focus on your cadence, on your fueling strategy, and you know, she’s looking still to do a sub 4 hours 30 minute bike. So she’s she’s not she’s not out of the game. And as you say, you know, she’s she’s a class runner. She comes from a running background. You know, steeple chasers are are predominantly strength athletes. You know, they’re not maybe 8 15 jumping up a distance. And I I think um you know that there’s every chance that we can see her run herself in in you know with a shout of a top five you know maybe even sneak on the podium because you know she can watch the race in front of her. And again this course it’s four laps but there’s lots of out and back so they’re really going to see each other. It’s a great course to get timing splits from supporters and and coaches and whatnot. All right Tim, we appreciate your time and we look forward to picking your brain again in a little bit when we get onto the run. Uh we’ll check in with you in a little bit. Thanks. Always great insights from from Tim. He definitely brings a a a nice perspective and I like how we challenge him with some of the questions that that we have. But you know, I think we did a pretty good job of uh covering I think a lot of the potentials, especially that top five. I mean obviously right now in the lead is is Cat Matthews and then we have Love Set and then we have Phillip and then that chase group. I mean they were at some point only 3 minutes behind now it’s going out to 6:26. So we have FISA and uh Rashman and then uh Jinny um at around 6:30 and then of course we uh have ma uh Margeli Pierre just dropping off. She’s back now in 7:46 and then we go in the likes of Danielle Lewis who has slipped back a little bit but has that running potential. You’re watching Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship. I’m Marina Carafrey joined by Mackily Jones and we are watching Cat Matthews now all business. She’s put some time into Laura Phillip as well as uh Love Set and she is now she doesn’t want a piece of them. She wants to come into transition all alone. So yeah, those time gaps are opening up now. They’re within 9 kilometers of T2 and there is a little bit of drizzle and dark clouds in the city of Hamburg. But as we pass one of the age groupers here, it’s time to check back in with our trot athlete Josh Rugan to see how his predicted swim time compared to his actual swim time. And it looks like he predicted swim time was 120 48 and he swam a 11819. So pretty close there. Pretty pretty accurate. Uh MJ, I know you’re a TR dot coach. Do you use the Raceex predicted times a lot with your athletes? Oh, I absolutely love it. I mean, it’s all based on your threshold history, uh, where you’ll do a 5k threshold test and then there’s also a 200 and 400 swim test and then of course you could do your FTP test uh, of 20 minutes. No, what I like about it, it’s not only uh is it looking at like the environment, but uh your threshold history, but it’s also you can you can dial in the equipment that you’re using as well. So whether you have a disc wheel. So I think there’s like so many components that go into it and basically what it’s designed to do is make sure that you are pacing yourself because so many athletes in an iron man will go out just that little too hard or if they go way faster on their bike then their their run’s going to suffer for that. So you know it’s it’s about teaching them patience. It’s about teaching them what their training is telling the AI and what that threshold history is telling you what you’re capable of doing. And and it also you can download the profile of the course and it will tell you exactly what power numbers that you need to hit on the flats, on the descents, on the asense. So, I think it’s a really valuable tool for for any athlete and I love racing it.
Yeah. You got to try to beat your
rac when it Yeah. When it tells me like this time I’m like I’m going to prove you wrong. So, you know, it’s that little bit of motivation. Extra motivation. Absolutely. Uh we’re looking at Cat Matthews. She has a 24 second lead on Laura Phillip and Solve Love Set is 36 seconds back. So Cat Matthews trying to put the pedal to the metal and we are going to take a look at the AG1 supplemental stats for Cat Matthews. At that last split she was 42.68 km/h at average speed and estimated next split will be 521. That’s overall time 47. So that’s um at the 167.6 kilometer mark. We are moments away from Ruvie T2. We have Cat Matthews, as I said, pedal to the metal. Laura Phillip just starting to drop off the back a little bit. And then we have Loveit
sitting in third. And then we got Vissa Riceman, Yendri as well um in fourth, fifth, and sixth. Margelane dropping off the back of that group. But we are setting ourselves up for an incredible run. An incredible run. I think it’s going to be an epic epic
epic epic run. And you know, I wonder if this was part of Cat Matthew’s strategy that you know when they were going over what the race plan was going to be. Obviously, CAT does a lot of motor pacing, so that usually gives you um a lot of leg speed so that you can change your pace very quickly. And I think sometimes that’s a really um important factor when you are working on the bike because at some point you’ve got to go with the race, especially if you’re a professional. Uh as these athletes um go around an emergency vehicle uh that that’s on course, hopefully um everything’s okay. But yeah, so with CAT and I think it’s motor pacing is like a very old cycling technique, but it has so much purpose and it enables you to one go a high cadence because you’re sitting behind the moto, but it also teaches you to be able to um chase and change your pace and that’s really hard. Reie, talk about like how hard it actually is when you’re dialed into pace. The effort it takes just to go that little bit harder. It’s incredibly hard. Yeah. To especially this late late in the race. We’re talking at 170 km 10 10k to go. um she decided to pick up the pace and put the hammer down and and that just shows how powerful and how strong Cat is and and yes, doing the motor pacing helps um with that change of speed, but to put it in effect that late in the race um yeah, by then, you know, usually you just don’t have anything left in your legs to really um increase um that power output. So, super impressive um for Cat to be able to put that down. But yeah, she’s like, I you know what, this is my plan. I wonder if this was part of the plan or if she just got sick of having, you know, company on the bike and she’s like, nope, I want to have transition all to myself. Again, this transition area is a very long um it’s a 550 meter run from bike um entry to run exit. Uh, so again, another very long transition and and we all remember Cat and Laura Phillip getting off the bike together in Nice. I think that’s probably fresh in her memory. Like that was a world title that slipped out of her hands. She came into transition with Laura. She probably backed herself on the run and then, you know, she had some cramps so she needed that little bit of extra time up her sleeve and now she’s like, you know what, that didn’t work last time. I don’t want to borrow it this time. I’m still feeling good. I know I can I can put a little bit of time in him and get a little buffer and you know it’s a small buffer right now 20 plus seconds to Philillip and loves set but still it’s it’s nice to be able to be calm in transition you saw them in these there was like an urgency they were racing each other in transition it was like no I want to be out first and it was almost like stamping your authority on the race in that moment and as Tim said it’s a marathon like yes there can be some of those mind games but there has to be a ceiling on your heart rate. There has to be a ceiling on what pace you’re going to run because at some point it’s just madness you’re going to blow up and and you know there are good athletes you know sitting back behind that will run through the rubble if if there is explosions um in the front. So uh Cat Matthews now uh within you 4 km to go on this Zoot bike course and she’s she’s cranking it out. You can see the she’s putting power into those pedals and she wants to get into transition all alone. And I mean I think that the biggest toll right now is on love set. I mean she’s sitting what 36 seconds back and that doesn’t seem like much but like when you’re at the end of 112 mile bike, 180 km bike and this is your first Iron Man ever, it’s like you know you don’t understand what that that feels like. anyway and then all of a sudden somebody’s attacking you so late in the race and love set you know has been aggressive you know she she was down like over a minute because she had to get those handlebars um tightened back up that that one handlebar came undone so perhaps that’s playing into it and then I mean Cat Matthews if she can get into transition and relax a little tiny bit not that she will I think you know she’s always aggressive and she always likes to get out there, but I think it’s giving her a little bit of room to to breathe. And now it’s up to to see what is Laura Phillip actually going to do. We have 3.2 km and 37 seconds can be nothing if you can have a really clean transition and you know we did see Love Set like charge through the transition um out of the water um coming from a short course background. So, you know, I talked about earlier how transitions are the fifth discipline. This could really make or break each one of these three athletes. It’s like obviously Kate Matthews is putting out a lot of energy right now as well as that power and speed, right? That’s taking a huge amount of effort to do this towards the the last few kilometers of the race. Basically, from 10k left, she’s really done this asserted effort.
But she must feel good. uh you’re not going to put in this effort knowing you have to run a marathon if you’re not feeling good. Right now she’s having to pass a few age groupers and she doesn’t want to go over that yellow line. So thankfully they moved over for her. Um but yeah, I I think this tells me that she’s feeling good. Um and she’s like, “Yep, I’m good to go. I’m going to, you know, finish this bike off properly.” And it’s not like it’s her first Iron Man, right? Like she knows exactly what it’s going to feel like running off this bike. Do you think tactic-wise, because we know she’s can like I mean when she raced Taylor a few weeks ago at Iron Man Texas.
Yeah. They rode fast.
Oh yeah,
she’s capable of riding fast. Do you think it was like she actually rode quite tactically and within herself after seeing what she’s doing right now?
Maybe. Yeah, maybe she had something up her sleeve the whole time and and we did see her on the front a lot of this bike ride, but yeah, I feel like we got out of the swim and she was with Laura Phillip from the start. She was aggressive at the start. Laura Phillip was still there. She she I think throughout the day she’s been trying to throw in a few surges here and there, but Laura’s been hanging with her. And these two are the fastest on paper. Love set uh is an unknown quantity, but those two on paper are the fastest two runners in this race. So, I think there’s a part of her that’s like, I don’t see the point in crushing this bike if Laura’s going to come with me, but I need to keep testing her legs. Um, and now she’s been able to blow it out a, you know, not blow it out. It’s it’s a 25 to 30 second um lead on Laura Phillip and Love Set is, you know, sort of sitting right behind. Uh but if you look down, Annie Riceman’s now eight plus minutes back. So that time has really started to blow out. That tells me that Cat Matthews has really cranking cranking it in this in this final 10 to 15 km. And you know, Laura Phillip is somewhat going with her. We’re sort of bouncing around between 20 and 25 seconds. So um yeah, I mean Laura Phillip is still right there. They’re both going to be in transition together. Remember this is a long transition. Um, but Cat will have a transition to herself for a moment.
No, she definitely will. And I mean, if we go back and like think about how the race like happened, it’s like when we looked like around like 60k, I think the predicted bike finish time was around 4:30 and now this back half they’ve made like probably 10 minutes up. So, you know, that’s just shown you like how tactical I think it was at the beginning and now how aggressive it’s getting and and you know, Cat has been the aggressor from from the start of this race. She’s the one that sort of has controlled everything and she’s continuing to control it as we’re about to go. We’ll go through the tunnel, that nice dark tunnel, and then on the other side of that is the actual transition.
Yeah, absolutely. and she’s just about to enter that that tunnel and then she’ll be exiting the other side and into transition. But yeah, Cat Matthews turning up the heat at the end of this bike ride. Uh we did hear from the ground that there is a little bit of drizzle in downtown um Hamburg. Uh so the athletes, that’s great news for the athletes. It cools it off a little bit. Um, you know, it’s mild temperature anyway here in Hamburg, especially with the overcast skies, but it was high humidity earlier today. But, uh, it’ll set up for a really fast run. And, um, we’ll see what Cat Matthew’s bike split is. At this point, it’s looking to be low to sorry, 422, 423, somewhere around there, which is not a course record, but it’s very fast. When Laura set her course record here, she ran rode around a 430, I believe. So, ahead of that pace. No, exactly. As she’s about to uh get off her bike and head into T2, uh let’s see how far the gap is when uh we have Laura Phillip hitting that dismount line. But yeah, she’s gonna get off, run the 550 yards
through the Ruby T2. And she looks her bike.
Yeah, look how smooth she looks. I mean, she’s being aggressive just like we thought she was going to be. And we’ll have a look at that Wahoo Element Bolt time. That’s 42245. Very fast riding from Cat Matthews. Well, considering how the prediction was 8 minutes slower
slower than the first lap. Yeah. So that’s unbelievable to be able to make up that much time in in really a short amount of time because it was like, you know, even when we hit the halfway, she still was looking at about that that 430 to 428. So significant effort by Cat Matthews. And now we see Laura Phillip making her way to Ruby T2. and she will dismount her bike right before that dismount line and head into that long transition. You see Cat with her helmet still on. She knows it’s a long run all the way down. 550 meter run. Her legs look great. There’s no limping. There wasn’t any It didn’t look like there was any discomfort. And there was Love Set who’s transitioning right now into the Ruby transition 2 where she will rack her bike and then she will run those 550 m to get to her run gear
and it looks like 53 second gap from Cat to Laura Phillip and then a 123 to Solve Love Set
over 10 km.
Yeah. So
that’s how much time she’s put over both of them in 10 km. Cat wants this win. She’s not here to play around and never is. Every single race she shows up, she comes with her agame and she puts out just an incredible effort. Um, no surprise that uh she is on a mission here again today. And this first part of the the run course, you can sort of get out of sight, out of mind quite quickly because they’re going to head out and then you you go around the the lake area and then you’ll you quickly make a a right-hand turn and then you’ll end up underneath uh one of the bridges to go underneath the road where they were cycling. So, if she can get out of this transition before they even enter. But you can just see Laura Phillip coming up right now. They’re just going to be exchanging as she’s leaving. Laura Phillips’s going to grab her bag. And then we’re going to see Kate Matthew Matthews head out as she puts the rest of her gear back in and then hangs it up. And then she is off. Cat Matthews heading out onto the Hoka run course exiting Ruvie T2. It’s a 26.2 km run. Of course, 40. Sorry, that’s wrong. 26.2 miles. That’s 42.2 km.
I’m sure the athletes don’t want to run 42.2 miles.
And it says it’s rolling. It’s It’s pretty pretty flat. I mean, of course, there’s a couple of bridges and and so forth, but uh for the most part, fairly flat. very fast course. Um, but Cat Matthews looks great from every vantage point. And basically this uh running around like the the lake. So the the start was just uh on the other side of those uh hoka run um banisters and then she’s going to make a a another right and then she’ll get um out towards the the other side of the city as she comes past the I think is that Laura?
Laura Phillip only 31 seconds back. So Laura had a very quick transition. So it was 54 seconds coming in. Laura made up a little bit of time, but I think Laura put socks on after the swim where Cat put socks on during Yeah. the transition. So, I think that’s where the the difference was.
Yeah. I wonder if Cat knew that. And like I need to get a little bit of a gap on
on Laura in this little section so that I am not coming out behind.
But there this is a really good chance for Cat to be out of sight, out of mind because of all the turns on the course early. like she’s making the turn right here. Um, as you see, she was carrying plenty of speed. Yeah. Um, through that turn. I mean, that’s the nice thing with being like a little more compact, too. Like, you have to be a little agile the start of this course. Obviously, Laura Phillip is a little bit taller, so she may not be as agile, but there are some little twists and turns as you um make that way all the way around the lake. So, right now, if we want to look AC directly across the water, that would be where the transition area is. And then she’s going to head under this little tunnel. And then there’s this little dirt path that she’ll take. And then she heads out um towards the outer banks of the city. Looks like an age grouper, first age grouper off the bike. And back to Cat Matthews. and she’s bouncing along there out doing a 5K. Looks It looks like it. I’d like to get a a split on that first K. Um but yeah, she’s she’s in a hurry. No, and I mean I mean she needs to because like as I said, if we look on paper like Philillip has the better marathon record, but you know, we know Cat can run well off a very hard bike on a flat course. I mean, not to say that Laura Phillip can’t because you just look at her success and how many podium finishes she’s had at the Iron Man World Championships in Kona. I mean, both these athletes are fierce, competitive. If I was going to say who’s made the biggest leaps and bounds in the last couple of years, I would say Cat. I think Laura Phillip has steadily, yes, been progressing, but you know, Cat Matthews hasn’t been racing that long. you know, she was an age grouper and then in not too long ago, what, like six years ago,
she uh turned pro and you know, to be the fastest woman ever at the Iron Man distance, you know, pressure perhaps, confidence, hell yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And and coming off that world best time, I think that just gives you a ton of confidence. Uh, and on paper we say Laura Phillip is the faster runner, but I just I just don’t think we’ve seen the best from Cat yet. I think she still has a really fast marathon up her sleeve. And is she going to unleash it today? Well, that remains to be seen. Yeah, here’s the part where you This is dirt. It’s a little uneven. And then you’ll go underneath the bridge and then there’s another tight turn to the to the left and then you’ll do a tight turn to the right. And it’s it’s a little bit uneven through here. Um, so you do have to be a little bit cur careful and it’s it’s hard, you know, when you’re running and you’re going from like a nice smooth surface to a little bit rough. It might not seem much. Now it won’t, but lap four it’s going to be a little bit more significant. Only a short part,
but yeah, I think it’s a lot warmer than we think though because we’re starting to see the sun um out. There is some definitely some shaded areas, but I always feel like the temperature in Europe is always a little bit more warm than what you’re actually seeing compared to some other places that we race around the world. But look, so comfortable, relaxed, you know, focused. I mean, she’s obviously got a plan. And, you know, let’s talk about how fast she actually ran in Texas because that was hot.
That was extremely hot. Not only that, but she rode bonkers out of out of her mind. Um, like well faster than she’s ever ridden. And it was a fast day. They didn’t have crazy winds, but still to be basically the same time as Taylor Nib on, you know, that bike course and then get off and, you know, bust out a fast marathon in hot conditions, humid conditions. Um, yeah, just incredible. Um, so yeah, I expect to see well sub 250 from Cat um today. And you know, we’re trying to look back and see where Laura Phillip is. And that 30 seconds is quite a ways. This Annie Richman now making her way into Ruby T2. Reie, I have to say there’s no way Laura Phillip would have let this happen
if she could help it.
No way.
I mean, there’s there’s absolutely no way. It’s like we’ve both been in races before and if you’re that close to transition, you’re going to go with the race, but it’s not that easy. And I think that’s where some people don’t understand. It’s like when you’re like racing and you’re already at the limit and you know, you’re at the the the most fatigue in the race is at that moment and you have somebody who’s aggressive and attacks you. It’s like I think that’s what we’re seeing right now is that Cat was a little more calculating even though we saw her do a lot of the work and we were thinking that Laura Philip was sitting back. Perhaps Laura wasn’t feeling as good as we think she was feeling.
Yeah. And yeah, you might be right.
Maybe that 70.3 like is sneaking in.
Yeah, she did race uh just last weekend the 70.3 and we’re seeing that second pack now in transitions. That’s Yenni Yenderik. I’m sorry if I’m not getting that name right, but I will keep working on it. Uh we had El’s Vissa right in front of her and Annie Rashman. Annie Rashman in all black on screen right now running through that transition again. It’s a long transition, a little over half a kilometer. The athletes will run from one end to the other. grab their T2 bags, switch out uh the helmet, and put their running shoes on, and off they’ll go to the Hoka marathon.
That 550 meter extra run that they have to to do.
I should get credit for that.
Yeah, that um that’s definitely a a long transition, but everyone has to do the same. And we are back on our women’s leader, Cat Matthews. And let’s do a little review because we have seen a lot of Cat Matthews today and and I mean there’s a reason why she is the fastest Iron Man athlete ever. Um and was so aggressive in in the swim. Um it was interesting to see the tactics in the swim because there were was a couple of times where she stopped and like hey what are you guys all doing basically thing or whatever was happening and then yeah she was super aggressive on the bike but that last 10k. Wow. It’s going to be interesting to see if that right now it’s paying off. Like definitely it’s paying off. It’s like she’s in the lead. She looks comfortable. We just saw
she’s in control of the race. Yeah, which is what she she wanted like with that assertive move. She wanted to take control of this race and lead from the front. And uh that’s the type of racer um she is. This is what we’ve seen from her before.
Look at that hum. It’s it’s a little more humid. Did you see just pour water over her head?
Yeah. So that I mean even
if it was cool.
Yeah. She wouldn’t be worried about that. So yeah, pouring water. I mean it’s Yes. The humidity is there. Um, it’s it’s not cold by any means. It’s it’s probably a nice temperature. If you were to walk around, if you’re running a marathon, you’re going to feel the heat. Um,
it’s under uh 250 weather. Is that what you’re saying?
I I I mean, I think so. I mean, I think I think I I mean, just based on Texas and the fact that I don’t think she rode the bike to her capacity today. I think, you know, she could go 247 would be my prediction. I like it. I love it that you put times out. This is Danielle Lewis now um from the USA. She is just about to Whoops. that that dismount line came up on her a little quick there. Um, but she made sure she got her feet off that bike before she went over the line. Now she’ll go and rack her bike in the Ruby transition and she’ll go and get on her favorite leg, the run.
Yeah. And, you know, see what sort of damage she can.
She’s ran a 252 and had an absolutely great run at Iron Man 70.3 St. George only a few weeks ago. So, she’s going to be riding high on that. And that was a much much harder run than this course is. And you know, it’s like she’s always patient. She talks about how, you know what, I know I’m going to be behind out of the water and I’m just going to keep moving forward. I’m going to be controlling what I can control. And it’s like, I’m just going to like, okay, I just got to catch the next person, the next person, the next person. And that will be her mantra for this entire marathon. And you know, she’s in a position that she’s used to doing it. Did does she wish she could swim faster? Of course she does.
But you know, it’s like you like you, Reinnie. Okay. When you would get off the bike and you had to catch up, what was your mindset? What were you thinking?
Yeah, I think um I mean it wasn’t wasn’t unfamiliar territory. So, you know, I was
I mean, there was times that you were like well in the front, too. But I’m just saying like
No, I mean, it was typical for me to be chasing from behind. And the mindset is um to put together the best performance I can from this point forward. You can’t change what’s happened in the past. Okay, I didn’t have the best swim. I’m a little bit behind. I’m going to push Marel Pierre does not look great. I was going to mention this earlier when she slowed through that aid station
and had the visor up. took the visor off and she was squirting water in her face. She kind of like was soft pedaling and I was surprised. I was sort of surprised to see that overheating it could be or just like completely gassed. And again, she was riding with some phenomenal bikers and this is only her third um Iron Man. But the thing is Margelain is a smaller athlete. So, for her to ride with those like Annie Richman, um bigger, stronger athletes who can put out more power on the flat, it’s just going to take it out of you. You don’t get the hills where you um can gain um you know, she’s a lighter athlete, so she didn’t get that um at all in this race. Completely flat. So yeah, I wondered um and yeah, she does not look that happy coming into transition walking through, but we have Cat Matthews on the left and Danielle Lewis on the right, Danielle just about to start the hooker run course and Cat Matthews rolling along. We’re waiting to get some splits to see what she is, what pace she is running. It looks quick to me.
Yeah, she’s lovely turnover.
Lovely turnover. And I’d love to see what um Laura Phillip looks like right now. Is she look the same? Is she charging hard or is she sort of building into it? But we have an incredible race on our hands right now. Matthews in first, Philip in second, Love Set in third, and we have Danielle Lewis on the right screen coming out of transition in seventh place. She just keeps moving up. Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship is brought to you by Hoka. Fly human fly and by by precision fuel and hydration. Personalize your race hydration and pre precision fuel and hydration. And we are with second place at the moment, Laura Phillip. She also looks fantastic. Uh she has a slightly slower turnover than Cat Matthews, but
that’s because she’s
very Yeah, a little bit taller. Um and we also have to update you. We just got word that Jackie Herring actually pulled out after about 90 km. So, she had that slow leak that she stopped and tried to tried to um put some CO2 in. It went flat again. She kept riding it. Um and then she pulled over and tried to um tried to remedy it, trying tried to fix it, but there were a number of gashes in her wheel and she had to uh pull out. It’s not repairable. So, uh really sad for the defending champion, Jackie Herring. Uh she was riding along really well in that second group with Annie Richman and a couple of other uh women. Um and she will I’m no doubt be looking at the calendar and figuring out where to find another Iron Man event that she can add to her schedule. Um but yeah, bummer for the Jackie Herring fans.
Yes, and she did mention that she had good legs. So,
uh she will be very very disappointed with that. But at least she knows she has good form and she can carry that momentum onto her next race. And I’m glad that we got to see Laura Phillip because she looked really good. Um Danielle Lewis right now is just going under that that bridge where she will make that that left hand turn and then she’ll make a right hand turn and uh head out on the Roka run, the Hoka run course. But yeah, like I’m interested to see what our split’s going to be when we get to 3.9 kilometers. It’s very close now. I mean, obviously we we know that both Cat and Laura are excellent runners. Um we were hoping for a a little bit of a closer battle, but that’s why we want to see what the split is. And Love Set um is in third right now. and Riceman uh in fourth. Visor in fifth. Uh Jinny Jenkinshik is in sixth. Danielle Lewis has now moved all the way into seventh place. And you can see from the GPS trackers the pace that the athletes are running at. Looks like Cat Matthews is around 4 minute perk. Laura Phillip is 417 at the last information grab from those GPS’s. uh love set 4m minutee k pace. So and and so forth. So yeah, I mean we’ll we’ll see when they go past and we get a a split. It looks that Laura Phillip is running a little slower than Cat Matthews right now. Um and we did get that split 26 seconds. So Laura Phillip is running basically the same if not maybe a little bit quicker than Cat Matthews. So, um that graphic um it kind of grabs it at separate times and so it might grab it, you know, when she’s going around a corner or something. So, she was just slowing maybe in that section. Now, Cat Matthews is at 330 perk pace and then you see her drop back to sort of 5 minutes. So, um great to have those GPS trackers, but you always have to take them in context with where the athletes are at that moment. But, uh Love Set moving back now. She’s 226 um behind Cat Matthews. So, she is losing time. Um she was a 130 back at the start of the run and now to 230. Um and Laura Phillip gaining a little bit of time. She was 31 seconds behind and now she is just 26 seconds. So, she’s taken only 5 seconds back from Cat in those first four kilometers. Yeah, we definitely have uh a race on our hands. Um, and yeah, I like really am praying for Laura to catch up to Cat for no other reason than um,
it Yeah, fan of the sport and love the, you know, love to see the battles out there. Um, yeah. And, you know, just love watching women battle it out. And I think when you have two of the best in the sport going headtohead, it just just helps them raise to another level. in the moment. I’m sure they’re like, I don’t want to have to like run head-to-head, but these are the races that you remember when you’re long and retired. I can tell you right now. Um, so yeah, I’m excited to see that play out. We have Danielle Lewis on screen from the USA. She has been steadily making her way through the field, ticking off athletes. She was, I think, 10thish out of the water, moved up to ninth. um sorry, moved up to seventh place um onto the run. Uh so now she’ll be looking to move up a little further, but she has a little ways to go to catch up to sixth place. No, she definitely has. But you know, she she will be patient. She’ll dial in her pace and she will keep ticking over. Um and Laura Phillip again, she just needs to be a little patient. You know, if she’s running slightly faster than than Cat and only like 26 seconds back, I mean, you just got to be patient. It’s so early. Patience will definitely pay off. And we’re just looking at Laura Phillip. She’s getting some splits from this. I’m sure many supporters of hers as a as the German athlete racing here today in second place right now and won this race in 22 setting what was then the world’s fastest Iron Man time in a 818. Of course, Cat Matthews went uh and set set that reset that record to 810 in Texas about five weeks ago, but uh Laura Phillip slowly taking time out of Cat Matthews. Yeah. And I mean, as you know, I just said, you know, she just got to be patient. You know, we just saw her take some nutrition in um take some big deep breaths. Um, she’s just got to stay relaxed, keep focusing on her turnover. I mean, when if we had these two athletes in comparison, I mean, their run form is going to be a little different. You have um Cat Matthews whose stature is a little bit smaller but very strong, and then you have Laura Phillip who’s a little bit taller. So sometimes it’s hard to actually see how fast uh um Laura may be running because her turnover because she’s got that little bit longer stride may be a little bit um harder to define what her actual speed is. If you put somebody who’s had that little uh smaller statue and usually has a a a stride rate that’s a little bit higher than somebody who is a little bit taller. And a fighting chance presented by Hoker is our race week series that pulls back the curtain and gives you a behind-the-scenes look at everyday lives of elite triathletes around the world. The this week we spent time with Laura Phillip. Then my brother asked Chad GPT where does Laura Phillip live? and he tried to find out like personal information about myself. And then Chad Chibiti said like you should respect um the privacy of Laura Phillip. Hello.
Hello.
I’m happy to be back here in Hamburg. Um, I have great personal memories um from three years ago and um hopefully um with a completely different field and um level of competition um I can have a great day again.
I mean, how cool is it to have like really big races in your own hometown country and to actually be able to race a strong field uh with a little bit of a home um country advantage. I’m already qualified for Hawaii like for the World Championships. I don’t need to be here like I don’t need to validate qualify or anything and I think that definitely gives me some sort of freedom. Um I’m here because I want to I want to race and uh I want to enjoy and um you know I want to build the season.
A good ride. Thank you.
People are saying it’s the World Champs 2.0. You and Cat facing off. What’s it going to take for another win this uh this weekend? Yeah, I think uh to win here on the weekend uh will take a perfect performance like uh strong from start to the finish and I think we might have some good dynamics on the bike. Obviously this is a super different course to what I’ve raised cat on before like with knees with having like all the climbing and so on but this is also something that I am looking forward to. This is a very different challenge and I think as a professional athlete, you know, you need to face challenges in order to grow and to become better. Hoping to have tight racing. I hope to be in the mix. And I think, yeah, it’s a privilege that we can hopefully, you know, push each other in order to be fast, to be like to just also entertaining for the spectators. It’s super early in the year. I mean, Kat has already shown that she is in record-breaking form. I have not. And uh my plan is to be in record-breaking form in October.
You know, you you don’t necessarily need to be here. You know, it’s a no pressure racing, but do you do do you get that buzz from like knowing cats here, for example?
Well, yeah, of course. Like, uh having Cat here and other strong ladies uh definitely will, you know, motivates me to be my best and to give my best. I think that’s what racing is all about and that’s also the fun part at racing. Of course, that also means that maybe I’m not going to win, but um that’s also part of the game. But I’m here to fight for it and to give it my all.
Ready? Give it a slowmo. Thanks to Laura Phillip and A Fighting Chance presented by Hoka. For more, watch short AFC episodes on Instagram, Ironman Try, and full AFC episodes on proseries. com and our Iron Man triathlon YouTube channel. She uh seems to be in very good spirits um before the race.
No, definitely uh really good spirits and you know I think she understands how valuable it is to actually take the pressure off um you know when you get to the top it’s like you know there is a lot of pressure but you know there are ways that you you can do that and part of that is you know put the pressure on somebody else.
Yeah, absolutely. It’s a lot of tricks you can you can
Yeah. So, um I also asked Laura her thoughts about um how she would feel after racing a 70.3 last weekend. So, she sort of said it was a tight gamble to be fully recovered for Sunday, but I think giving the body a last hard hit out can also help to perform well on long distance. My main focus for recovery is plenty of good food, sleep, and often extra protein just a few minutes before protein. And also focusing on micro nutrients like AG1 and of course physical therapy goes a long way to keeping her healthy. Yeah, great to hear those things from Laura. But uh we look here at the Ruby transition two times and Rashman was the fastest in transition at 245, Laura Phillip 250. We saw her roll out pretty quick. Cat Matthews at 312. So Laura Phillip took 22 seconds out of Cat and as you mentioned uh Laura had her socks on um prior to the bike. So uh that was something a step she was able to skip. But we are moving up through the field. So, we were on Danielle Lewis a moment ago and now we’re with Yenni Yender from Germany and she is in the blue kit here sitting in sixth place right now. Very strong bike from her. She rode with Elvis Vissa and Annie Richman. Um, we had Margel and Pierre come into transition and she did not look super great. Um, I’m wondering, you know, if she did carry on or if she um took a minute in transition to collect herself.
And Jenny, uh, Jenny, this is actually her first Iron Man by my records.
Yeah.
So, uh, yeah, she has not done an Iron Man before. So, I’m sure she’s thrilled to be in sixth place right now. Um but yeah, definitely her strongest um discipline is the bike and uh may struggle a little bit on the run, but you know, right now she’s just got to concentrate on getting good nutrition, um concentrating on good form, getting those legs ticked over as quick as you can after riding 180 km bike. But yeah, so great to see our rookies doing so well. Of course, our other rookie in the field is um Love Set. Yep. Yep. So, and she’s doing absolutely fantastic on the podium right now. Definitely um noticed it when Cat Matthews really picked up the pace, the last 10k of the 180 kilometer bike. But love set this is her first ever Iron Man and doing a great job right now. We had predicted maybe she was going to be the aggressor, but I guess we didn’t factor in how aggressive Cat Matthews was going to be. And when we had Tim Dawn on earlier, he definitely proved us wrong because he said Cat was going to be the aggressor. And she definitely wasn’t just the aggressor in transition. and she was definitely the aggressor that last 10k where she put uh over 30 seconds into Laura Phillip. Yeah, it was incredible by Cat. She just turned it on. And again, we mentioned earlier, it’s not easy to just change the pace at, you know, 10 to 15 km left in that bike. Most people are sort of just hanging on at that final stage of the bike leg, but Cat Matthews saw that as her opportunity to to put down a few extra watts and and created some separation between herself, Laura, and Love Set. And we have Matthews leading, Philip in second, Love Set in third, Richman in fourth, Vissa currently in fifth. You’re watching Iron Man Hamburg European Championship and we are currently on Laura Phillips. She’s sitting in second place, just 27 seconds behind Cat Matthews. cat of course with that surge at the back end of the bike. These two swam together, biked together along with Love Set and now uh separated by only seconds. Love set falling back a little bit was 230 back at last check but Laura Phillip um definitely on the hunt. Cat Matthews has other ideas. So, these two right now are locked in a battle
and they’re running very fast.
Yes. And they’re not running next to each other, but they’re definitely running the same splits right now. Um about 345 uh per kilometer. So, uh they’re definitely got a battle going and I mean this is what the the marathon in Hamburg is truly about. It’s that mental um test that they’re all going to be going through, but particularly our two leaders, Cat and Laura, because they’re both going to be getting splits. They’re going to see that neither one of them right now um through 8.5 km have made up any time or gained any time. Um it’s definitely going to be a battle of uh of wheels out there. I mean the nice thing is they are going to see each other. They are going to get those splits. It’s four laps along the inner and out and and outer and you know that incredible crowd sport is definitely going to be in the favor of of Laura Phillip um being from Germany and in her home country. So you know that’s definitely going to be uh to her advantage. And I think you know it’s like again I think as Tim Dawn told us you got to be patient. Uh this race is only just started for the marathon. Um we’ve got love set still sitting in third. Um she just came through uh the checkpoint. Um she’s now down 349. So definitely feeling the effects of her aggressive ride where her handlebar came loose. She stopped. Oh, look. Cat’s like giving high fives. Yeah, she looked absolutely fantastic and smiling as she got her band to say that she had been on that part of the course. But yeah, uh love set like amazing day um on the bike. Um lost that minute when she was getting mechanical help, rode up and went straight past Laura Phillip and Cat Matthews. um just feeling it a little bit and I think you know that’s Cat who put the pressure on Love Set with 10K to go. She really put the hammer down. You know she talked about earlier how she wanted to be nowhere near Laura Phillip. Uh right now she’s sort of living that dream a tiny bit because she’s out in the lead. But yeah, like what great energy and attitude that she has right now. I mean, obviously she’s feeling good.
Yeah.
I mean, Laura Phillip is in a battle cuz they’re running exactly the same time. So, it’s just basically a matter of who’s going to lose that little bit of focus. Who’s going to be that that one that starts to like get the little kinks in the armor? Yeah, just a replay of that um that bracelet. That’s probably the first lap um bracelet that she was picking up there. But um yeah, just she has a lot of energy. She seems great. She’s like happy. She’s smiling. She’s waving to the crowd.
Well, last time she ran a marathon, it was really hot.
It was really nice. This is probably this is a real treat for her. This is like this is this is like the the AC’s on right now. I do we do have to make mention uh we had a couple of DNFS Margeline Pierre and Sarah Spank both have um pulled out. We saw Margeline um come into transition and sort of drop her her bike and sort of walk uh start walking. She um started to show signs late in the bike that she wasn’t feeling so good. So um hopefully just uh ex exhausted and nothing more um calling it a day. But uh we also had Jackie Herring um have to pull out. She had multiple gashes in her tire and she was forced to pull out. She couldn’t. It was unrepable. Um so she had to pull out which is a real real bummer for her. She’ll be looking for most likely another Iron Man event to add to her calendar um to make sure she gets uh all those points uh to add up to another great season for her. But um also at the beginning of the day, Stephanie Clutterbuck was on the start list and she was not feeling well this morning. So uh number of athletes pulling out for one reason or another, but no such trouble for these three athletes. This is Love Set here sitting in third place. A phenomenal performance. This is her first ever Iron Man. She was just incredible in Venice Jolo only a few weeks back and winning that race in amazing style. 116 run 206 off a 206 bike. Um and we had Laura Phillip as well sitting in second and Cat Matthews in first. But this is back with El’s Vissa and L’s is looking really great running right now. She’s sitting in fifth place right now. So, she has Annie Richman uh just ahead of her, I believe, and then the podium further up the road. Yeah. But, uh El’s looks really, really comfortable. Um she’s got like a good arm swing. She’s relaxed. Um her foot strike looks really, really good. It’s quite a quick cadence for a marathon. I mean, I know it’s early, but you know, they’ve still ridden 180 kilometers. Um, she looks focused. I’m sure she’s motivated to uh do a little bit better than when she raced um earlier in the year and did not finish. I think that was Iron Man South Africa. Yes.
If I’m correct. But no, yeah, looks like so comfortable, relaxed, you know, just focusing on what she can control. what we always tell our athletes, right? Control what we can control. I mean, she’s going to want to get some splits. Um, of course, Riceman is just up the road. Um, but definitely moving away from her right now. Um, Danielle Lewis, uh, is sitting comfortably right now in seventh. She’s got a little bit of time that she needs to make up to to get ahead and get into that sixth position. Uh but yeah, but Cat Matthews in the lead, Laura Phillip chasing hard. And just looking at those splits, Cat Matthews uh 3908 through 10.7 km. Laura Phillip 3902 through 10.7 km. So only six sections separate them in that first lap. Um the gap now is 25 seconds.
That loss coming into transition.
Yeah. So incredible. um these two are running basically the same pace and you know only separated by 25 seconds and in some of the there’s not many straightaways um where you can see and as you mentioned MJ it’s sort of you can kind of get out of sight out of mind only problem with that is Laura Phillip is German and she’ll be getting splits like every 3 seconds. Um, I always found it so funny when you get splits from random people. It’ be like one person would say, “Oh, it’s 25 seconds.” Next person’s it’s 45 seconds. And then you’d be like, “Okay, I’ll just try and take the average of all of this.” But I I I I would put money on the fact that she would have accurate splits from her personal support crew that are on the ground um there in Hamburg. But we have Cat Matthews sitting in the lead, Laura Phillip 25 seconds back. Sveg Love Set sitting in third, Rashman in fourth, Visser in fifth. We have a lot of exciting racing yet to come. Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship is brought to you by Brightling. Aspire for the ultimate finish line reward and by Nana. Enhanced athlete event experiences powered by Nana. And we are on schedule for possibly a sub 240 marathon if you can believe that. No, these uh Cat Matthews and Laura Phillip are definitely throwing it down. Uh what was it? 39 minute 10 km.
10.7.
Yeah.
So through 10.7 in
10.7. Yeah. So that’s like
So well under
under like 37 minute 10k pace.
Yeah. Ridiculously fast. Hence the sub 240. I hazard a guess they might slow a little bit, but still incredible. What was my prediction for Cat Matthews earlier today?
247.
247. We’ll see if she can live up to my expectations. She’s exceeding expectations. Um
and I’m more than happy for her to exceed it. Yes. Um but incredible. Um again, this woman never ceases to amaze. Um, and we have uh Laura Phillip running, you know, just a few seconds uh quicker than Cat, at least in the last time checks that was uh the case. But sitting just 25 seconds back, um Cat and Laura are delivering on this battle royale. Um Cat Matthews uh very animated in this first lap. She’s um talking to people, waiting. Um seems quite happy. um doesn’t seem to be um suffering. I mean, I’m sure there is some suffering going on, but she’s in that comfortably uncomfortable zone. Um maybe pushing it up just a touch more than she would if she didn’t have Laura Phillip um hunting her down, but uh it’s just I don’t know. I think she’d still be I I think she’s so aggressive that she’d still be pushing. And we’ve got to remind everyone like every second counts. It’s like if if you want to win the Iron Man Pro Series, you have to keep pushing. There is no like, oh, I’m just going to back it off a little bit. And you you know, you can’t back it off when you you’re racing against you, the fastest person ever on an Iron Man distance race and the second fastest person ever in Laura Phillip in an Iron Man race. So you know yeah significant challenges where you know you’re coming in both you you can take the pressure off but you’re coming in with a lot of pressure because we have huge expectation
absolutely
just sitting here commentating and then the fans have huge expectation the sponsors have huge expectation and I think this Matthews herself has huge expectations and it’s and it’s like sort of like who’s going to who’s going to have those sort of like, hey, I I got one up on you. And right now we know that Laura Phillip got one up on Cat Matthews at the Iron Man World Championships last year. So, and she also took took um well, Cat Matthews just took away Laura Phillips world fast world’s fastest time. So, Laura’s like, “Wait, no, I want to take that back.” And I think today is setting up to be faster um than that than that race in in Texas because uh Cat rode right around the same time as what she rode in Texas. Maybe a touch slower but is running much faster. So I think you know we’re setting this up for another potentially world’s best time. No, definitely right now. You know, definitely, you know, that that sub 40 I 240. I don’t think they’re going to do that. Would it be absolutely exciting for them to do it? It would be. Yeah. But I think if Cat can can run in that 240 category and, you know, walk away with the win, I think it would be a double victory for her for sure. But, you know, it’s like we we know that Laura Phillip is strong in the second half of the marathon. So, and we know they’re running very similar times. What I like is Cat Matthew is getting a lot of core support. I’ve heard a lot of like go cat, go cat. And I think that’s absolutely amazing. And that little energy even though you’re sort of in that as an athlete, you’re in that tunnel vision and you really don’t hear anything, right? You you’re just so zoned in. It’s like it wouldn’t matter if the crowd was absolutely yelling your name like so loudly. You were so zoned in to the moment to what you’re trying to achieve. Again, you have that little chat that’s going on in your head like how am I feeling? What do I need? What am I going to get at the next aid station? All those sort of things keep creeping into your head and you just you have that tunnel vision. And I know Reinnie, you’ve experienced tunnel vision so many times and it’s amazing how you can just zone everything out and just be so focused and it’s like nobody’s there. Yeah, absolutely. Like you when you’re in the zone, um I think Cat Matthews seems to be Yes, she’s in the zone. You see her collect herself, but she she takes moments to wave to people, to see people. So, she’s using that crowd energy as well.
Exactly. Um, and I’m just uh for a second looking at the track, it looks like Elvis Vissa has moved past Annie Richman. So, Elvis Vissa has moved into fourth place. Uh, Solve slipping back. Uh, she’s now over four minutes behind Cat and Cat. Um, and you know, just under four minutes uh behind Laura Phillip. So uh SVG love set who is on screen right now slipping back from the two leaders El’s Vissa um making some inroads uh certainly on SVG if SVG isn’t careful may lose that uh third spot uh but yeah Elsa moving really well in fourth right now.
Yeah, Love Set’s just got to like find find that groove. She’s got to settle in. you know, it’s like she’s never been in this position before. It’s like she’s obviously got goals that she set for herself that her coaches have set for her. And you know, it’s just one of those things like, can she handle the fatigue of that 180 kilometer bike and then still be able to run what she’s potentially um should be able to run based on the fact that she has run a 116. I mean, there’s not many female athletes who have run a 116 and a 70.3. So, you know, but you’ve got to toughen those legs up. Sometimes it it takes more than just a training plan. It’s like racing. There’s nothing like racing. It’s that little bit of fitness that you get. It’s that that that desire to push yourself even more than you can in in a race. And I often talk about, you know, there’s champion trainers and champion races. And it’s like those champion trainers. It’s like they sort of show everything in training and they don’t leave anything for the race. And I think it’s really important uh particularly when you’ve been in the sport for a long time. It’s like, you know, when you want to go hard and you’re feeling really good, particularly like those those closing few weeks when you’re in a um a prep phase for an iron man, it’s like just don’t do it. And you know, I often preach that to to a lot of my athletes that, you know, it’s like, you know, when you’re like feeling good and you’re like, “Oh, I just want to see how I’m going.” I’m like, “Just don’t do it.” And it’s it takes like discipline, but you know, that’s what like running an Iron Man marathon is about. It’s it’s discipline. Like you’ve got to be disciplined to like stay within the moment that you’re running in. Yeah. It’s like you want to push the limits because I say to my athletes, look, don’t ever be tied down too much by what that that that pace is telling you on the day because sometimes what the prediction is maybe you’re having the race of your life. I mean, like look at Cat Matthews in at in Iron Man, Texas. Yeah. Race of her life. Fastest time ever. But, you know, today she’s not going to give up the thought that she can even push herself even harder because she knows with Laura Phillip in the race, she’s got to go just that little bit more, particularly on the marathon. Yeah, absolutely. And that’s what we love about having the best of the best compete against each other when you are racing against the best in the world. And and uh Laura Phillips said this uh before the race. Now the the gap’s back at 31 seconds between Cat and Laura. So basically Cat’s taken back 6 seconds. Um you know, so the 6 seconds that Laura had taken out of Cat, Cat’s now taken back. So we’re back to 31 seconds between uh these two women. Gosh, I wish they got off the bike together. I’m sure they don’t. Well, Cat doesn’t wish they got off the bike together. Um or maybe she does, but uh right now they are running exactly the same pace. They were on pace like within a second of one another at 14k which is just bonkers. Um but yeah and what I love about them racing against each other they know that they have to have a magical performance and Laura Phillips said it in her AFC episode. It will make a magical performance. It will take a magical performance to win this race. And she said I don’t know if I have a magical performance in me. It’ll take a perfect race. Um, I’m hoping for a magical performance in Kona. I think that was her husband and he I think he just said settle down. Um, because she’s running extremely fast, but she’s just matching what Cat’s doing right now. No, you’re exactly right. And and I and I think it’s sort of uh going to be fast and it’s sort of going to be like brutally honest. You know, it’s one of those things like who got the nutrition right, who got the the the the pacing right, who was patient, you know, that honesty of racing that that that truth serum is going to come out as we just see them pass each other. It’s like just they both put their head down. They they they didn’t even glance, didn’t like acknowledge each other, but you know, this is what it’s going to take. It’s like they knew going into this race it wasn’t going to be easy. I mean the flat course is another element of that was going to make it hard and then you know you know you got to show up with your aame and I mean Laura Phillip has talked it down that you know she’s not as fit. She hasn’t done any of those key big workouts that she would typically do that she’s preparing herself for the Iron Man World Championships in October. But when you tow a line as a world champion, you’re towing a line for a reason. And it’s like it’s really nice to see that they are challenging each other and they’re pushing the limits of what women can actually do. You’re watching the Qatar Iron Man Hamburg European Championship and we are with third place currently solving Love set. She is cruising along here on the Hoka run course. The athletes are around 15 kilometers in to this marathon. And this young woman is about to get into unknown territory. Well, she kind of is already after a 112 mile bike, 180 km bike running off that bike. Um, this is her first ever Iron Man event. Just a year ago, she was uh getting ready for Paris at the Olympic Games. So, moving up a couple of distances and doing it very well, racing two of the best in the world. Cat Matthews and Laura Phillip currently one and two as it stands right now. Of course, Laura Phillip, the reigning Iron Man World Champion. Cat Matthews uh was second at the Iron Man World Championships in Nice last year and currently holds the fastest ever time for an Iron Man event. And you know, she’s she is starting to find her her groove. Like I mean, definitely she’s she lost quite a bit of time, but now I feel like she’s settling in. Like uh Cat and Laura are running like around 343 per kilometer and she’s now dialed in about 353 and she did um blow out to about over four uh minute kilometer pace. So, you know, she’s done a really good job to to regroup, refocus, and, you know, she’s hanging on to that podium slot right now. And that’s what she’s got to do. You know, use the aid stations, stay focused on on the training that she did to get her to this point. You know, it’s like she’s gone through that bad patch. And you know, we know that during an Iron Man, there’s a time, doesn’t matter who you are, you’re not going to be feeling great. And you know, we know she’s been through that. We saw her struggle the the final 10 km of the bike just because Cat Matthews like just threw it down and go, “Okay, let’s see what you’ve got. Let’s see if you you can actually compete with me.” And I think, you know, I think the strength in her maturity, I mean, yeah, we could go back and go, you know, on the bike, it’s like, you know, you should have settled in a little bit more, but, you know, that’s not the type of racer she is. It’s like, you know, she’s used to aggressive shortc course racing and she’s just looking better and better and better. Reie,
I think so, too. Yeah, she, you know, has is losing time to Cat and Laura. And again, they are running really, really fast on pace for a sub 240 marathon. Uh we’ll see how they slow uh through this uh second and third lap, but still looking phenomenally good and still moving very quickly um both of them. So, you know, it’s not like she’s running slowly. She’s just not running as bonkers as Laura Phillip and Cat Matthews are right now. And it’s a first marathon off the bike. You know, she, you know, there is a little bit of hesitation um when you do your first. It’s a little bit of um ignorance is bliss, but it’s a little bit of I actually want to make sure I make it to the finish line. And you know, at this point, defend that third place on the podium. So, she has El’s Bissa behind her. Um she has a nice buffer between her and L’s almost um five minutes but she still needs to be careful. You know the wheels can fall off um you know 30 35 km in um things start to get really really hard. Um and that’s you know the seventh eighth hour of an Iron Man. Yeah, everything hurts. Um and so unknown territory for uh Love Set, but I think she’s having a pretty incredible debut. No, she definitely is. And I I think it comes down from short course. You’re so used to that raw speed versus strategy sometimes. Even though shortc course racing does have some strategy for sure, but iron man racing is about strategy, but it’s also like I feel like these new generation of athletes, it’s like they’re they’re willing to push the boundaries and they’re they’re really converting and understanding that you you got to do that speed so that you can go these ridiculously fast times. It’s like, you know, it and it is like a progression of like, as I said, like the coaching has gotten better. I mean, Cat Matthews, you know, started working with a more specialized cycling coach and there’s other athletes who have done exactly the same. They understand that the details matter so much and the details have always been significant, but when you’re going this sort of speed and for this amount of time, it’s like you want to tick off every single box that you can. I mean, it’s part of being a professional athlete, but it’s also part of like figuring out, okay, right now Cat Matthews has set the bar of what is possible. And every time somebody sets the bar of what what is possible, then somebody else is going to come in and they’re going to figure out a way to get even faster. And you know, you’ve got athletes like Love Set who’s come into this race as a rookie, was not afraid at all on the bike despite all the chaos that happened of the mechanical riding straight past and then dropping some time that last 10 kilometers. It’s like I think the new generation of athletes really know what it’s like to race. And I think, you know, we’re still getting these specialized athletes that are coming in and, you know, you see every Olympic cycle, you see this fresh young sort of blood come into the sport and not every athlete is going to be successful. It’s just it doesn’t work like that, I think, because you got to give a little bit of who you are away as a speed demon and become a little bit of a diesel engine. But you know the way these athletes race and really I say that because one question that I want to ask you in five years if we were sitting here what do you think the the personal the best time for an Iron Man marathon is going to be? Like I had a little chat to somebody the other day and and we were wondering who the first male athlete was going to break 230. Mhm. What do you think the possibilities are for for for female athletes in the next 5 years? How fast do you think they’re going to be running the marathon?
I think um yeah, like sub to 44. I mean, we Laura Phillip ran a a 245 here, but it was a kilometer short that year. Um so, you got to take that into account. I mean, I think probably around that sub 245 mark is where we’re headed um sooner than later and maybe today um on on this course and these conditions and with this competition, right? Like the thing is usually we only have the best of the best race like in Kona or Nice and Nice. Yes, they they got they ran very fast in Nice. In Kona, you don’t get to run that fast cuz it’s too hot. Um, so now with the Pro Series, we’re getting the best of the best racing on fast courses and that’s just going to drive the pace even even quicker. So yeah, I think sub 245 um can a woman break sub 240? Probably. Um, but yeah, it’s it’s incredible what uh what we’re seeing. Um, just the chunks of time bike splits are coming down. It’s not like, you know, obviously run technology in the shoes has come a really long way in the last sort of 5 to 10 years. Um, nutrition is incredible. Um, over 100 calorie 100 grams of carbohydrate per hour. And um, as Tim Dawn said, you know, Cam Worth was taking in 200 gram of carbohydrate per hour. That’s just unheard of. You know, five 10 years ago, we didn’t have the products that could be absorbed and now you can. And so if you think about it, you have shoes that delay that drop dead fatigue an extra hour, you know, 40 minutes. You have nutrition that keeps you topped up the whole way. I mean, it’s just amazing what um the athletes are able to do now. And just um the competition again. Um, I think when you have the best of the best lining up and racing against each other, they’re going to continue to raise the bar. When the bar gets um risen, when the bar rises, um, athletes then train for that new level. And so, you know, 15 years ago, the bar was much lower and so everyone was aiming for that. Now, the bar is at a different level. And so in the in the training what’s possible um you reset in your mind what’s possible and then you know it’s incredible. It’s like you know the age-old you know 4-minute mile barrier that uh you know
the used to be the magical magical barrier and now everyone in high school is running four-minute miles just about you know like it’s it’s amazing um evolution of sport is is incredible and the mind as well. No, and I I I think uh we would be very disappointed if the sport wasn’t progressing and uh you know it it is a combination of technology. Um I I still believe we’ve got a lot of talented athletes that are coming into the sport. Um and and you know there’s always that argument, you know, if if we had the technology back in the day, could have we done, you know, all this? But you know, unfortunately it’s like that’s not the way it works. It’s like you’ve got to go, okay, well, this is all the information that we have. How can we make ourselves better? And I think it’s it’s great if when the sport keeps progressing and progressing and progressing. Uh we got Laura um on Philillip on screen right now as she’s coming back through that tunnels where she’s going to go through the tunnel and head back to where the crowd is going to be going absolutely nuts. I mean, that’s what’s so awesome about the the fans in in Germany. It’s like they are so passionate. They they love triathlon. They love Iron Man. And you know, Hamburg is such a big triathlon city. They have so many different races here throughout the year. Um, it’s one of the the the the I think the most fun cities you can race in because it’s the historic nature of it. Um Laura Phillips um just picking up some nutrition at at our aid stations right now on the Hoka run course. But you know she looks smooth, she looks fantastic. I mean we know that she’s prepared. You know she has been playing it down like a a smart athlete does by saying you know I haven’t done the key sessions. I’m just excited to see where I’m at. And you know, we know from their previous races together that Cat Matthews and Laura Phillip, as she’s just stopping to get her personal aid right now, we know that they are pretty even
for a lot of the marathon. And, you know, I think in Nice, you know, Cat, you know, had some nutrition issues. Um, so she really struggled the the back half of the marathon. And you know, after seeing what she did in Texas, I think that big question mark now has has gone. I think that, you know, she just needs to keep doing what she’s doing. It’s I think it’s going to be a very tight race and it’s going to be a matter of, you know, who falters first.
Absolutely. And um some news from the course. Uh El’s Vissa um somehow missed the 8.5 kilometer checkpoint um earlier. That’s how she sort of moved up. So, she cut the course and didn’t realize it and now she’s um she’s pulled out of the race. So, she I think she would have been DQed um because she unfortunately missed that 8.5 km checkpoint. So, El’s Vissa uh from our accounts has been pulled out has pulled out of this race um due to missing that checkpoint. So we have which is such a shame
in fourth but it does happen sometimes. So
hopefully she can get over the disappointment and we’ll see her on a start line soon. But you know as an athlete it is your responsibility to know the course and definitely there are a couple of like little out and back sections on this course. So obviously maybe she was so focused that she she missed some of those cones or directions of where she needed to go. So yeah, it’s such a shame when when that happens to an athlete and uh yeah, hopefully um as I said that she can fire up and because she was running really well, really well. Yeah. And Elvis Vissa needed that Kona qualification too. So, um, she will need to sort of figure out the plus side is she didn’t run too far. So, the damage in her legs, um, that’s the big thing, right? Like she’ll get the stimulus, training stimulus from a hard bike ride, a good hard swim. It’s a bummer cuz she tapered for this race. She was looking good. She was running really well. Um, but she can take that fitness and go find another Iron Man event. Um, which I am no doubt that she will do. and um try and get put this replicate a great another great performance somewhere else. But uh yeah, Cat Matthews on screen right now leading this race and at the last time check there still 30 seconds between her and Laura Phillips. So those two holding steady right now as we move to almost the half away point. We’re at about 19 kilometers into the run. So coming up to the half half marathon point. Um, I’m very interested to see what they go through at the half in.
No, for sure. I think that’s another going to be a super fast split. Um,
it’s going to be sub 120.
Oh, for sure.
Yeah, that is crazy.
18.
Okay. What was your fastest half marathon ever, Renie?
Like a 116.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they do it like Well, I think I think it might have super shoes. You didn’t. I’ll give you that. But still, I mean, incredible regardless of, you know, whatever.
And they rode like a ridiculous
fast time.
I mean, and that’s sometimes what what I say when we we’re doing the argument. Um, you know, it’s but they’re riding so fast and yeah, it it is like the fact that you can get in these positions now that allow you to do all sorts of things that are aerodynamic that also enable you to produce more watts at at a much lower effort. But, you know, it’s like it’s just unbelievable how much the sport has progressed. I I think particularly in the women because there was sort of like a a time like when we when we go back I mean Aaron Baker, she ran some of the fastest times like 245 back in the day. Yeah. I think it was Iron Man Canada. She ran ridiculously fast.
And then you had Heather Fu that was like consistently like was one of the fastest runners like always under like 307 which today now it’s like it seems so slow.
So slow. Yeah.
So slow. And then of course Reinnie you came in and changed the game like absolutely like you know and it’s like we always say Reie if Reinnie had super shoes. We’ll see what what could she she run because they they not only make an effort in terms of how fast she can go, it’s the recovery and the fact you don’t get the same muscle fiber breakdowns like during the race that you would in in in traditional running shoes. So yeah, and now we we we look at the game changers right now. It’s like, you know, these athletes are really pushing the limits and it’s, you know, it’s it’s great to see and it’s like I get so excited when we we have like the Iron Man Pro Series because like you sort of mentioned it a little bit. It’s it’s bringing up the level because athletes are racing at a high level and and I always tell people like if you want to get better, go race against go race against the best people in the world. And I think that’s what we’re seeing. The Iron Man Pro Series is so competitive that you’re racing quality athletes all the time. Like at the start of this race, we said there was three athletes who were the three fastest ever of all time in terms of their Iron Man time. Like
that is ridiculous that in in one year, in a span of what, two years, Cat Matthews takes like eight minutes off the world record. Like that’s nuts. It’s incredible. Yeah. Um Yeah. I every time I look at the times they they just kind of just keep getting better and better. But um we have Laura Phillip on screen right now and she is sitting in second place right now. The ladies are about to make it through their lap two. So they’re almost coming up to that halfway point of the marathon and we’ll see what time they go through that half in. But Laura Phillip, um, she looks the same as what she did at the start. Um, I think, you know, it’s really going to be the end of the third lap and into the fourth lap where we’ll start to see that fatigue start to creep in, but Laura looks looks great.
Okay. Reie said 120 for the half marathon split.
It might even be 118.
Okay. Okay. 119. 119.
Okay. Rein’s going with 119. Let’s see if her prediction is correct. I love this. I always love doing uh predictions.
Let’s do a prediction.
I mean, I I definitely think it’s going to be pretty close to that.
Yeah. I mean these athletes you know there this I mean backing off a little bit in terms of their pacing because when we go to the 18.9 km spit split we saw uh love set you know is now at 357 and they’re at 350. So, you know, even
MJ, look at the race clock, though. 641, 642.
Holy cow. Um, they’re going to be, if they keep this pace up, say they slow 5 minutes, they’re probably going to be around 244, 245. Yeah, but overall time is got to be just over 7 hours. It’s crazy.
Sorry. Eight hours. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. So, I think we’re in for another world’s best time here today.
Does Cat Matthews lower it again? Yes. I say yes. I think both of them will.
I say yes. And I mean, again, this is what the Iron Man Pro Series is doing.
It’s like, you know, you if you want to line up and you want to win,
you you you have to be at your best and you have to be willing to push it. And I mean, we saw Cat do that the last 10K. She was going into that last 10K. I’m just going to ride as hard as I can. And like when we heard her earlier in the day, she was like, I want to go in there and I want to practice what I think is possible. Yeah. And and that’s what she’s doing. And but I think she’s doing what everyone thought was impossible. Who would have thought January 1st, 2025, we would have said in April that
11822 11822 nice. Who would we who would have thought that we would have had a world record by eight minutes? And today now we’re in June and we’re like like over the midway point when we think that the Iron Man World Championships is in October and the 70.3 World Championships is in November.
Yeah.
And it’s like we’re getting these ridiculous performances. Not ridiculous, like absolutely amazing. I can’t say ridiculous. Ridiculously amazing. Yeah, ridiculously amazing.
It’s like it’s just and you know, Cat is just coming into her own. I mean, just absolutely amazing. I mean, I think when you finish second
at two world championships,
it lights a huge fire and the motivation is at alltime high.
Yeah. And you know,
almost there.
We think about Cat’s history, that bad accident that she had that like, who knew she was ever going to come back for from. And I think that showed like such character and the ability to endure because I could can’t imagine how painful something like that would be. I mean, and and she’s not letting up. And you know, we’ve talked about the reasons for this, right? Cat has that military military background. She’s she knows that in situations that you can push way beyond what you physically and mentally think that you are capable of doing. And then when somebody motivates you because they took your dream away twice last year, even though she won the Iron Man Pro Series, she is motivated. But then I think of Laura Phillip for her to show up. She’s the defending Iron Man world champion. She’s still pushing and finding something to drive her. And I find that really empowering as an athlete and for their coaches to figure out how to get the best out of their athletes. Like truly amazing because it’s not easy. There’s so many variables. It’s one day. Anything can happen. You can wake up. You can be that bad statistic or you can be that good statistic. And right now we’re seeing incredible performances by Cat Matthews, by Laura Phillip, and we cannot count out the amazing performance of Love Set right now in her rookie. Yeah. In her rookie debut. Yeah. I mean, we’re we’re again, I think the stage was set for just a phenomenal day, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to be it’s going to be delivered, right? things have to go right. The athletes have to show up well-rested with the work done um with everything you know the stars align almost sometimes um just to you know get to that start line and be able to produce and perform to the level that they are capable of. Um both of these women and Laura Phillip said she you know wasn’t thinking she was going to have anything magical today. She’s this is pretty magical though. Um she’s you know building towards Coner at the end of the year. Cat Matthews coming off Iron Man Texas again. Cat is just incredible how she can back up races and just, you know, go another level every time. It’s it’s just it’s just amazing to to witness. Um but yeah, I I think you’re totally right when you say yes, the stage was set a fast course. Um two of the fastest women, our first and second last year at the World Championships. um the X Factor in Love Set um as well uh thrown into that mix. Um I think yeah, we’re being treated to one of the all-time great um Iron Man performances here and and it’ll show on the clock at the end of the day going through the half and both of them went through in about 118. Cat 11822, Laura Phillip 11827. So well sub 240 marathon pace.
I was just about to say that. Yeah, it’s not.
Yeah. So, I mean, I expect they will slow a little bit, but it right now it doesn’t look like anyone’s slowing at all. And we have Cat Matthews on screen right now again. Laura Phillips sitting in second, Love Set in third. We have Richman in fourth. We have Lewis actually moving up through Yenni Yender who’s in fifth right now, but Lewis is looming. We are past halfway the last half of this marathon and we’ll see who the champ is. Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Champion ship and I am Marina Carafrey joined by Mackily Jones and we are watching your women’s leader right now Cat Matthews is putting a masterclass performance together here in Hamburg. She has company though Laura Phillip sitting 35 seconds behind at lap one. These two women went through in 118 and change. So they are in a hurry today.
They certainly they certainly are. And I feel like they’re sort of in like a game of chess.
Yeah.
Because it’s like they’re just waiting to see who’s gonna make the next move. Like right now, nobody’s making a move.
Like that’s how I feel. Like it’s it’s like neither one of them. I mean, yeah, a few seconds here and there, but like no one is really made the gamechanging move or willing to give up anything. They’re still committed to running super fast. Um, they’re both dled in. Unbelievable. I don’t know if you can make a move in a in a marathon and you go through the first half in 118. That’s kind of a move, but both of them have the same move. They’re playing their card, right? I think the card that was played with that was the big one was Cat Matthews in the last 15 km of the bike.
Yeah.
Separating herself from Laura. She got um a little over 30 seconds, more like 45 seconds, but then Laura had a quick transition, not having to worry about putting her socks on cuz she had done that earlier. Um but basically that was the move. Um and Laura just has not been able. It’s been as close as 24 seconds uh between the two women. Um it’s now back out to 36 seconds. Um Cat Matthews, both of them look just great. They look fresh and bouncy and um you see Cat um interacting with people around her a little bit which um tells me that she’s feeling good. If usually when you start to feel bad, the athletes will sort of look down and won’t interact with many people around them. They’re kind of getting into the zone and like they need to focus to to to keep the pace up. But um yeah, it’s phenomenal performances from both these women.
Yeah. And you know, as I said, it’s, you know, that chess game where they’re when neither one of them is is making a a move and, you know, it’s sort of turning into a master class of like and sort of like, well, let’s just run fast.
Yeah.
And let’s see how long we can run fast. And we’re both running, which is crazy, right? Because they’re both running identical times. Yeah.
Like there’s there’s hardly anything in it. So it’s it’s almost like it’s now like I mean they’re not thinking this but it is a mental game because it’s basically who’s going to be the first person to crack is
someone’s going to crack.
But are they going to crack?
I I mean
are they though? I mean, this could come down to the fact that you know what the move was when Cat Matthews decided to go on the bike that last 10k that Laura Phillip couldn’t go with her because why would she let or was she thinking you know what in the past I’ve outran cat in the race that we did when I became world championship but I don’t think so when you’re that close to home I don’t think she let her go I think Cat was so strong those last 10 km that there wasn’t nothing that anyone could do.
Yeah, I think I absolutely think you’re right. I don’t think in that moment Laura um let Cat go and thought, “No, I’m going to stick to my watts.” I think they were they been racing all day and I think uh Cat just put down some big watts and Laura did not have a response to that. And um and that’s how we have this um this deficit. uh you know 37 seconds. It’s hovering at 36 37 seconds right now. Um yeah, this race is far far from over. We still have 17.7 so 11 miles left to to go. Um well past the halfway point for these two ladies. Love set is also sitting in third. She’s at 614, sorry, 544 down. And yeah, we have a a real battle on our hands for the top step. Yeah, we certainly do have a a battle on our hands. Although you can’t see it right now because the two athletes that uh we are seeing uh trying to win this race, we have Laura Phillip who you saw on screen uh in second right now. Cat Matthews in first running almost identical times uh right now about 37 seconds back. We should get the next check at 24.8 km I believe. But yeah, it’s just absolutely amazing how hard these two athletes are racing. Not to say the rest of the field isn’t racing hard because everyone is racing their hearts out. This is the Iron Man European Championships. That means a lot. We also have the Iron Man Pro Series where every second counts. We also have five Kona slots, although Cat Matthews already has hers. Laura Phillip already has hers. Of course, Love Set does not have a Kona qualification as of yet, so she’s definitely setting herself in. Um Ann Riceman has a Kona slot, so she doesn’t have to worry about that. Of course, Daniel Lewis does not. Um, does Jenny Jenny Yenni
Yenni Yenni have a spot yet? I am unsure of that. We’ll have to check up on that. So,
I don’t think so. I think uh she’s
No, she wouldn’t have cuz she hasn’t won. And yeah, hasn’t won.
This is her first
um Iron Man event. So, she’s
So, like there’s so much on the line right now, but nothing more than than who’s going to win. and we’ll see the two women cross paths here. I don’t know if we’ll get to see both of them. Here we go. So, again, um the out and back section um not really much um very panfaced both of the women uh didn’t really they definitely would have taken stock at where each other were. Um, I used to sort of start look at my watch and see how far that gap was and figure it out. Um, or even just if it’s multiple laps, you can sort of see is that, you know, is she further out than she was last time. Am I getting further back out in the course before we’re crossing paths again?
No, that’s exactly what I would do. Like you’d literally like if you had an out and back, you’d be like, “Okay, where was it the last lap?” I mean, we know it’s been holding steady and somebody who’s
now it’s 45 seconds actually. MJ just gone out. So, it did look like it was a little bit longer. It seems like Laura Phillip is starting to slow down ever so slightly and Cat Matthews has put only 9 seconds into her in the last 4 km, 3 km. Um, and it doesn’t seem a a lot, but you know, if if you keep doing that, those seconds start adding up, adding up, and adding up. And you know, Cat Matthews will then have to slow down for a chance for Laura Phillip to get back those those those few seconds that she keeps losing. And and and Cat’s like in the lead. That’s motivating, but it’s also hard because I mean you you don’t know what’s happening behind you.
They will cross paths again here, MJ, um through this aid station. So,
we’ll see.
They go right now. And I think that’s going to motivate Laura a little bit as well, but it’s also going to m motivate Cat.
Yeah, it’s absolutely motivating for Cat. She’s like, “Okay, now I’m finally starting to put some time in,
but she’s going to lose a little bit.” She wasn’t as smooth. Sorry to interrupt. She wasn’t as smooth as Cat was through that aid station.
Yeah. So, that’s going to cost her a couple of seconds here and there. I mean, that’s all it’s taking. And uh you know, the momentum has sort of shifted into I mean, the momentum’s been in Cat Matthew’s favor since she put that surge in on the bike and and got that little gap. Um it did seem like Laura Phillip was going to run up onto her. it seemed like the momentum was shifting back to Laura’s favor and uh with the fast transition, a fast first lap, um that time was coming down, but now it seems like it’s shifted back to Cat Matthews. But again, we’ve seen Cat Matthews in the late stages of Iron Man. And granted, a lot of the Iron Man that she’s you see this happen in um in Texas, I’ve seen her slow to a walk. Um, even in, you know, the last time she did Texas, the last few aid stations, um, a couple of times she slowed to a walk, made sure she get got her hydration in, made sure she kept her body cooled. That won’t be an issue here, but it’s still a possibility. She’s gone out really hot, so um, anything is possible. As we know, this is Iron Man. But um to continue to push,
but this is just this is like becoming more uh defisive like the fact that you know it’s now going out to 47 seconds. And as we said, she she wasn’t very efficient compared to Cat through the aid stations. And these are the details that matter when you’re in a tight battle. It’s those little details because you know you’re trying to lock in your pace and then you go to an aid station. Yes, you’ve got to get nutrition. It’s so important that you you keep fueling. But if you’re in this tight of a battle and you’re losing a few seconds here and there in the details, I mean, that’s significant. And that’s what we’re seeing right now. It’s not so much in the effort, it’s the details, I feel that Cat Matthews is just better at at the moment. I don’t think it’s the pace, it’s just those details, you know, especially like we just saw through that aid station. That’s the details. The question though, MJ, so Laura made sure she slowed through the aid station and picked up um her nutrition. Um Cat was smoother through it, but was she taking on her nutrition or was she sort of blowing through the aid station? Right? like was is Laura being more calculated and making sure she’s getting on her nutrition, taking on her fluids. Um, and yes, it’s losing a few seconds for that a station, but did cat just blow through the aid station and not pick up um possibly some
good hydration and nutrition that she could need? And will that show up in another 10 km? We still have, you know, just under uh 10 miles to go. So, a little over 15 kilometers. Um the race clock is 7:01 right now.
So, these women are on track to be right just over 8 hours.
Um because like I’m I mean back in the day it’s like when I was doing Iron Man races, it’s like the goal was to run 10 miles under an hour.
Yeah. That was that was always the goal. And it’s like they’re they’re right on target to do that because we’re at 15.7 km. We’re at 702. That gives us like even if like a little bit like 802. That is absolutely ridiculous.
Like it’s crazy. And you know, we got to think, you know, the roads were wet at the start. Y
that had to slow them down. They got delayed probably 45 minutes. So that story is a little bit of a spanner in the works
because you got to think a little bit. Yeah. And you got to think a little bit more about nutrition. It’s like you’re ready to go and then you’re not ready to go. It’s like, you know, the organizers do their best to like keep everyone informed, but you know, it’s these all these little hiccups that that happen, but you you know, you got to be adaptable. You got to learn to pivot. That’s one of my favorite words. You’ve got to know how to pivot. And that’s what this morning’s, you know, announcement was. You got to pivot. And then Cat Matthews, I think on the swim, I think those couple of times where she stopped, I think she was trying to pivot, you know, who’s around me? What do I need to do? And then, you know, on the on the bike, you know, we saw her get a tiny bit frustrated every now and again, for sure. And then she she tried to attack and there was nothing happening. And then she’s like, “Okay, what’s the next pivot moment?” And the next pivot moment was that, you know, 10, 15 to 10k where she just threw it down. She’s like, can you guys come with me? If not, it’s like, this is the advantage that I need to get into that into that marathon. So, yeah, I totally agree that maybe Laura is being slightly smarter through the to the aid. We’re going to find that out in in less than an hour, but I still believe that Cat Matthew, it’s all in the details. I think everything she’s done today is is in those finer details.
Absolutely. Um again, just phenomenal racing. Um we are witnessing here in Hamburg today. And I’m just looking down. Um it looks like Danielle Lewis is right up with Yenni Yendrick. And
yeah, it looks like she’s moved past her into into fifth.
So right there and into fifth for Danielle Lewis. So that’s great. She’ll get her con of qualification if she can hold on uh to this position. She’s still a ways down around seven minutes back from Annie Richman. So um not impossible for her to move up into fourth, but uh we’ll have to um move a little bit quicker on course. We have Rebecca Ander Bri in seventh place and that was through 19 km so a moment ago but um yeah just like absolutely amazing performances like like when we look down like everyone is actually having we’re going to go back and we’re going to like see so many PBS today and I mean this course is known to be fast but it was never known to be
this fast, eight hours fast. And I mean, if cat starts to fall apart, Laura Phillips still can go 802 or whatever it’s going to be. And if Laura survives as well and doesn’t like stays where she is, we have two athletes that are going to break the world record by a long long way. And just a couple of years ago, Cat Matthews was a part of that sub8 project with Nicholas Berry. Oh, that’s right.
And they had they drafted the whole way. This is
now fast forward a few years. That was uh during the pandemic or right around the pandemic. So, a few years back now,
but it was at the sub eight and they did they broke the um the sub eight. But again, they had perfect conditions. They went and you know had
much easier when you can draft
and then they drafted. they sat in and drafted the whole way. Going to feel a lot better than
and then running off running off the bike when you’ve been able to draft the whole way on the bike. I mean, we are looking at, you know, athletes not drafting and um not having perfect conditions, but putting together close to a sub 8hour performance. So, this is a race for the ages and we have just under 15 km, 9 miles to go in this marathon. We are in Hamburg and you are watching a race for the ages. This is Laura Phillip on screen right now. She’s currently sitting in second place around 49 seconds back from Cat Matthews. Both of these women are on blistering pace. They went through the half in 118 and change both of them. Uh they have been locked in a battle pretty much all day. Swam together. Cat Matthews was able to break away from Laura at in the last 10 km of the bike and put around 40 seconds into Laura. Laura came out of transition 30 seconds behind Cat and they’ve been sitting at around 30 and it’s just starting to go out. Uh Laura just passing the 28 km mark right there. But uh we looking at the race clock, this um is looking to be another world’s best iron man time. Um you know, we’re on track for just over eight hours um for the women here today, which is unheard of. And and don’t forget, they also ran an extra kilometer and a bit with those super long transitions. So again, not super perfect conditions. We had a 45minute delay this morning. Uh we didn’t have a really fast fast swimmer or a bunch of fast swimmers to make the swim as fast as maybe it could have been. Uh a little bit of water um from the rain on on the roads for the athletes as well. Um but they are still putting it together and making quick work of this Hoka run course. Okay. So, I’m looking at Cat Matthews right now. Reneie, do you think she that that inside shoulder just looks a little more dropped than normal? I don’t I mean, if I was going to be super critical and find like the like if there’s something that’s not quite right right now, that just looks different to what we’ve seen earlier.
I don’t know if she’s just turning the corner and she’s um leaning, but I think you’re right. I I feel like that right shoulder looks like it’s just dropped ever so slightly. Um
I mean definitely she’s trying to like cut the tangent which is smart
and you know definitely but it just I feel like that’s not how she looked. Not to say that she still doesn’t like look she’s moving fast for sure. It’s just like okay we want to see if there’s anything that’s going to she’s gonna is does she is she going to start showing any weakness right now? You know, that’s what I’m trying to see right now because, you know, it’s ridiculous that they’re still running. Not ridiculous, it’s absolutely amazing. I keep saying ridiculous, but it is absolutely like amazing that they’re still running like 236 pace. And like we what we have like under 55 minutes left to run. Yeah, that’s a long time, but the pace they’re going, it’s going to go by really, really quick. Absolutely. We are going to welcome Tim Dawn back into the studio. Tim Dawn, of course, fourtime world champion and three-time Olympian. Um Tim, can you believe what you’re seeing? I genuinely cannot. This is one of the most exciting Iron Man races I’ve seen in such a long time. I just think what Cat Matthews did at the end of the bike was a masterclass tactically whether it was intentional or deliberate because when you’re running on someone’s shoulder, oh my, it’s a different kind of race and you know like Yeah, they’ve both got amazing poker faces right now and the speeds they’re running at really. This is just phenomenal. Absolutely. Yeah. Through the half in a 118 and change for both of them. Like not one of these women, both of these women running those uh break neck paces. That’s a 70.3 pace. Absolutely. I I think Yeah, it’s mad. I mean, we’re seeing, you know, this is the new norm. I mean, this is this is what we you know, we’ve had great battles in the past way back in, you know, Mark and Dave and Crowy and um Macka, you know, yourself and Danny Ella and you know, is this the start of a of a dynasty of two of the best athletes in the world? And you know, to witness this on a fast course, you know, we’re talking about going sub eight where the transitions are kind of like 800 meters long each, it it is just unheard of. And you know this is not this this this kind of performance from both these women doesn’t happen by chance. This is meticulous preparation, meticulous planning, you know, strategy, tactics. Yes, they did play a part on the bike, but they were still happening at such a fast speed. And you know, I think um you know, when we get those close-ups of Cat and Laura, both of them still look totally laser focused. You know, their their form, upper body looks good. They’re they’re slowing down through the aid stations. They’re kind of like I would call it service as normal. They’re doing all the small things right. Um yeah, it it it’s you know it it’s not over yet. I mean it’s if it goes out between more than a minute then, you know, may maybe the strings, you know, broken. But let let’s see.
Yeah, it was funny because I was just looking at at Cat Matthews earlier and it looked like she was dropping her shoulder, but now she looks back to to like normal cat. So Reneie was sort of saying that maybe she was just dropping that shoulder to lean into
to lean into the uh the corners to to be racing, you know, the shortest route. And you know, it’s it’s like two athletes racing. They both have one dream. It’s like I mean, it would be nice if they both could win, but that’s not going to happen. But I think they’re going to win in a lot of ways, right?
Um they’re going to be going like ridiculously fast again. and they’re both going to break a world record. And how amazing is that going to be going into the Iron Man World Championships in Kona?
I think every other pro woman who’s not racing here is going to be watching this saying, “What do I need to do to compete with these two?” Um because the the levels just going up and they say, you know, all you know, you need that you need that nemesis, you know, respectfully, you you need that kind of, you know, someone to challenge you. And you know, we saw we saw them going, you know, blow forblow at Nice at the World Championships. And you know, this is the first time they’ve come. I mean, look at Cat there. She is driven. You know, I it was it was two years ago at the World 70.3 Champs. She had Emma Pallet Brown chasing her down who on paper is is an international runner. Um, and she said, “I will not let her pass. She is so so steadfast with her belief and ability.” And I know the team that she surrounds herself, you know, believes in that. And you know, Laura has the same kind of mindset and you know, to race each other in Germany for a European title in the Iron Man Pro series. you know, Kona will be a different different animal because we’ve got the the no wets suit swim. You know, it’s going to be a deeper field, but um right now these two women are are raising the bar and you know, we thought Cat and Taylor Nib um you know, they they raised the bar um in the USA at Texas at the Iron Man Pro Series there. But now there’s three of them and you know, I really think that that people will be looking at them. You know, I’ve got a young daughter and you know, for her to watch these kind of women doing these things is just phenomenal for our sport. Absolutely. And uh looking at Kate uh Cat’s um just uh facial expression now. The first two laps, it almost seemed like she was sort of having fun, sort of taking it all in a little bit. Now it’s like the gloves are off. Like she’s in the hurt locker for sure. It’s hurting. But she is, as you said, like resolved in her, you know, pursuit of excellence and she will not yield to anyone. Absolutely not. And and you know it just went out to 45 seconds. Now it looks like it’s slowly coming back down to to mid mid 30 seconds. 35 37 seconds. 37 seconds. You know, this is not over.
Oh, one thing I remember when I raced in Hamburg is um I had I had to look at my watch a lot because under the trees at the far end and around the big buildings, my GPS wasn’t always working. So, you know, and at this stage it’s playing minds, you know, playing tricks with your mind. Um but they need to both stay on task. They need to carry on that fueling, that hydration. They need to look ahead and know where the a stations are because the course is going to get more congested. I know the lead bikers normally go behind the athletes, but when it becomes congested, it does go in front of them to help clear a path. Um, and the crowds out there, you know, I think they’ll be really they’ll be right behind um Laura because, you know, she’s a you know, it’s a it’s a home race for her. You know, she’s the the current world champion and and she’s looking to add a European title here. But um you know it is the positions have switched from last year and and you know it can still go either way. But here we can see you know she just looks so metronomic. Her you know her still got her knees are still coming up. There’s drive in her hips, her arms. Um you know she’s always it’s good to break the run down because it is so long and she’s got these age groupers she can attach herself to and say I’m going to catch them. I’m going to catch them. In a fourlap course, you’re really going to get to know the course and again you’re going to have those markers and we’ve got those great out and backs where who’s going to look at the watch first? You know that they are going to be so aware and aware of each other and conscious of that at the same time.
And Tim, with a course that’s so windy like this, um, talk about like just how important it is to take the tangents. Um, yes, it’s as the the course gets more congested, it’s a little bit hard to to take those tangents, but um, how how much time and we’re talking seconds uh between these two women. Um, how important is that? Every second counts and and it really doesn’t. Maybe if if they’re running kind of 250 255, but when you’re running 236, it’s the loss of speed. It’s that flow. It’s that breaking your stride. having to get back up to those faster speeds takes more energy. And yes, you will get a bit unlucky with age groupers, but no, I mean, you know, it’s like swimming open water. You know, you need to get from A to B as quick as possible. And they measure the course, you know, with with those tangents. So, you can see there Cat’s running so far. She’s got her arm out round the barrier so she can help herself swing round it. Um, you know, she’s just following that lead biker. So yeah, I think I think that’s Cat. When she gets tired, she does kind of lean to one shoulder, but you know, there’s a Paula Radcliffe, one of the greatest marathon runners, her head was all all over the place. And but then you look at the legs down, you look at the hips down there, you look at the, you know, her leg there looks metronomic. It really is great form. So um and and she’s got these new crazy shoes on that weigh like 135 grams or something like that. So you know, it’s technology. It’s it’s everything that is, you know, you know, putting these women, you know, making them go faster and faster. Yeah. At every vantage point, it’s uh incredible to watch and I’m just eagerly awaiting the next time split. Uh we saw Cat go through the third lap. We’re waiting for her time to come up and then we’ll see what that split is to Laura and they have one lap to go to see who will be the Iron Man Hamburg European Champion. Stay with us, Tim. We’ll come back with you after the break. We are at the Hamburg Iron Man European Championship. We are on the final lap of this race today. We have Cat Matthews and Laura Phillip locked in a battle royale uh slowing Love. Seth is sitting at 7:30 back in third place and she is actually running pretty well now. Um Tim Dawn we have with us I’m Marina Carafrey along with Mackily Jones and we have Tim Dawn joining us in the studio. Um Tim uh Sveg seems to have got her legs under her now. She’s uh now running around 4m minute K pace. So, she’s looking to run a really fast marathon time as well for her debut. I think Love set for her debut to be told she’s going to run a 245 and finish about 10 minutes coming off the bike, you know, a minute from the front and going to finish 10 minutes behind the the first and second place is just mindblowing. I think I think this this this is um this performance is definitely going to go I it’s going to go under the radar and everyone’s going to be talking you know about the great battle at the front but um this is a a phenomenal kind of step up to the full Iron Man. I um I’m sure she’s going to look at that pro series, not just look at Kona. Um because you know the first one you learn so much. Um you know it’s those small things. Angie had that crazy mechanical. I mean for a young 25year-old, what character and maturity does that does that actually show that that it’s when you make decisions under pressure and they’re the right decisions? And she has not put a foot wrong yet. She is just in one of the the greatest, you know, Iron Man races we’ve seen, you know, for um outside of Kona. And Tim, just as you said that, we saw that time split at lap three. It’s 21 seconds now between Cat Matthews and Laura Phillip. Cat, you saw a moment ago, taking on some nutrition, so maybe she was just going through a flat um phase. But this is uh exactly what we had hoped for. Well, this is what I was hoping for when I uh started my day today.
And Tim, before uh you you uh talk a little bit more, there is one question that I wanted to throw your your way. It’s like, do you think because Cat Matthews obviously hasn’t done Hamburg and Laura Phillip has, do you think that is the reason why that Philip’s like starting to to make up a little bit more time because she’s done this course. she understands how to run this course or do you think it’s just, you know, she’s just found a little bit more of a groove? No, I I’m not. I mean, don’t forget Cat did come to Hamburg last year. Um, she did the swim and and the bike and obviously had got DQed because she had all sorts of mechanical issues and and whatnot, but she would have done her research last year. So, she would have come here knowing the style of course. She would have run parts of the run course last year. You know, there’s so much data out there. you know, these G GPX files of everything, you know, is it is it coming down to who wants it more? Is it maybe, you know, maybe that dig at the end of the bike? Um maybe Laura’s been playing with her the whole way. I don’t I don’t know. But I but yeah, local knowledge. I don’t think has Laura raced um this course before as well, do we know?
Yeah, so Laura won here in 2022. uh slightly different run course this year, but um she has raced and this is where she set uh what was the world best time of 118. Sorry, not 118 of 818 um that uh Cat Matthews took down when she raced Texas a couple of weeks ago. I
mean, they’ve still got long enough where it can swing, but I think that that the pace difference is so marginal at the moment. When um Laura catches um Cat, I would I would I would presume that Cat will try and go with her, but Laura
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What did you just say?
Can you repeat that?
When um I when you just made a prediction. You just made a prediction. I’m pretty sure you made a prediction that that there’s going to be a case. I’ll stand by that. I’ll stand by that. That’s not That’s not the finish line prediction,
but um
No, I’m just saying you did predict something. when the difference in pace was say if Cat was at 353 minutes per kilometer pace and Laura Phillip was at 346 at that last um time check. So that’s a significant difference for that section, right? Like it’s been going back and forth and and I but I think now Laura Phillip, you know, she smells blood and um this is where it gets exciting for us as viewers. I mean, yeah. I mean, I do think though that Cat will will try and go with her. Um, and she’ll just hang on. And that’s that’s where that word I love, grit, comes in. You know, all training aside, you know, these women have prepared fantastically for this race. You know, we’re getting to the to the, you know, the stage where you can you can really find that heart and dig in. But, yeah, I mean, the stats don’t lie, but I do think there will be a catch soon. um whether it’s a pass straight away or later. I’m going to choose my words carefully. I’m not sure about that. Maybe you just see an age grouper um smiling for the camera and keeping up with Cat just for a few strides before he uh he uh hopped off. But uh Tim, we are going to leave you now. We appreciate you taking some time out of your day to join us um and give us your insights. Always a pleasure to see you and and hear um your insights. I’m excited to follow the rest of this one. Thanks, Tim. Reinnie Hamburg has never ever seen a race like this before. And and if Tim’s prediction is right, neither have we. And oh my goodness, it’s getting so exciting. I mean it this is a performance that’s going to go down for the ages.
Yeah. And it’s going to be like history making. It’s gamechanging there. There’s so many factors that make this race so exciting. You have the the two best and the two fastest athletes in the world and we’re only in June. We still have the Iron Man World Championships to go. Just absolutely and and less so many stories. It’s not just like the the the Kate uh the sorry Matthews and Phillip Show
love set
like as it as making her debut with that potential to run.
Oh, look at that. You see you can see Laura in the background there. That’s 10 seconds.
Yeah. And that’s only going to spur her on. And the crowd the crowd is is going bonkers. They’re going to go bonkers. like when they get into those crowded sections, she’s going to use that energy because everyone’s going to go and you see the facial expression on Cat Matthews. She definitely is like she’s pushing hard. There’s no doubt about it. And if she gets like a couple of splits and there’s going to be a point where they are going to like see each other again and it’s going to be so so close. So, we talked a little bit about grit.
Oh, here it is. Um MJ, this is um
this is the moment and this is where Cat Matthews, we know she’s gritty. We know she’s tough. She is not going to let Laura Phillip run right past her. She is going to use every ounce of her being to keep her in her sights and hang on and hang on and hang on for as long as she can. But this is Laura Phillip now. She’s taking a gel. So, she is calculating, and this is important. So, this this moment here, taking a gel, making sure she’s well fueled before she comes up on Cat’s shoulder. Cat’s got to know she’s coming. She’s got to know she’s just back there um just by virtue of the excitement from the crowd around her. But Laura Phillip now has to be careful and calculated as she runs up on her shoulder and she needs to try and make a decisive pass. Again, Cat’s just so tough. I don’t think that she will just let Laura um I mean of course no one’s going to let anyone do anything. Um these all these women are super tough but um I know Cat Matthews and I’ve watched her race closely for a number of years now and in admiration and you can see her cooling the body getting ready for this battle and this is what we’ve been hoping for all day. We didn’t think it was going to come this late. We thought that it would be at the start of the Iron Man marathon, but
no, it’s it’s coming down to the last 8 km. And this is going to hurt.
But you see that change in pace. You see the change in pace,
Laura Phillip.
She knows
that’s a definite change in pace. And you see the immediate response
response by
from Cat Matthews. Cat Matthews is matching that pace and it’s just a matter of how long. So Cat Matthews is now like on the ropes, right? She was already running as fast as she could. Laura Phillip was was bridging the gap. How long is Laura Phillip going to have to hold this pace to break that rubber band? Cat Matthews just has to keep holding on, holding on, holding on and hope and pray that Laura Phillip is going to break and have to slow.
No, I mean Yeah, exactly. And I mean you are seeing a little bit of separation and you know as an athlete it’s like you you don’t want that elastic band to snap as as like cat Matthews just got to concentrate on good form. Um just like focus in right on her shoulder or her back wherever it needs to be. Um just follow dig deep but you know it’s still 8K.
You got to battle 8K. It’s 5 miles.
Yeah. It’s like,
is is this going to be the point where, you know, you break each other or it’s like the gap goes
but that toll could be too much for Laura Phillip as well? But, you know, she looks so strong. She looks calm. She looked collected. She had a plan.
Like when she came up, she took that gel, she like accelerated. And now she’s getting that little bit of a gap. And the more that that gap opens up, not to say it’s not going out though, MJ, it’s
Cat’s not going to let it. If if she’s got the energy, she is going to keep the grind going. Yeah, I think Yeah, but that other thing is Laura Phillip has to keep her foot on the gas right now. She cannot slow up, give up one iota of um speed right now. She needs to just keep pushing, keep pushing, keep pushing because Cat’s going to keep pushing. for the next 8 km. So, this is going to be a super painful last seven and a half kilometers they have to go right now um of this race. But Laura Phillip, man, she is put on a masterclass of this run leg. And again, Laura Phillip has raced here in Hamburg before. She is the local girl. She’s won this race before. Um but it does look like Cat Matthews is now starting to give up a little bit of time. It isn’t significant by any means and again seven and a halfk to go. I would never ever ever ca count out cat that cat Matthews um one of the toughest athletes but Laura Phillip in her own right look and the crowd calculated I mean the crowd’s going to be behind both athletes obviously but they’re really going to be behind Laura Phillip. I mean even the athletes racing are excited by what we’re seeing. It’s an unbelievable finish to an already unbelievable race so far. Here’s Elizabeth in the middle of the perfect workout for her. To create it, we analyzed her biometrics and genetics, Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship is brought to you by Hyper Ice. Keep moving better than ever. And by Precision Fuel and Hydration. Personalize your race hydration with precision fuel and hydration. Well, Reinnie, this is a lesson that I’ve learned today that when you chase your limits, which is what happening right now,
and look at the rain coming down, MJ.
Yeah. And sometimes you outrun those limits. And these two are certainly um going far and beyond what I think they thought were possible. I mean, it looks like both of them are going to run under 240
40 for the Iron Man Marathon. I mean the only thing in super shoes it can get very slick in the rain and you lose a little bit of traction so that might be a little bit tricky but at the end of a marathon would you wish for rain?
Yes. Exactly. It’s like it’s perfect. I mean it wasn’t abs it wasn’t perfect conditions. The athletes had to wait 45 minutes with the delayed start super humid conditions. Um the bike course was a little wet in places and in the run you’ve seen them have to dodge some some uh puddles but a little rain overcast it’s going to be cooler for the athletes and now in the closing um few kilometers 3 km to go now for Laura Phillip. Uh she’s still sitting around 20 seconds up on Cat Matthews. Um and yeah, you kind of see her sort of slipping around a little bit with those super shoes in um the wet and uneven um surface there. But uh this is a just a race for the ages. I mean, I I can’t overstate how incredible this performance is from both Cat Matthews and Laura Phillip today. There’s Cat Matthews that we’re seeing right now. And you know, she still looks really good. I mean, as I said, just that little like drop of the the shoulder. I think that that’s the only thing you see when she starts to fatigue out. But Reinnie, did you think today we would see two athletes, let alone one, run under 240? Like I asked you earlier, what do you think it the possibility was in like 5 years? And we’re like maybe 243. Um, nope. Already under 240. So, um, yeah, I mean, this is just, again, when you put the best athletes against each other on a fast course, and again, I think they’re both coming into the prime years of their Iron Man racing. Laura Phillip coming off a world championship. Cat Matthews coming off Pro Series champion, coming off a phenomenal season last year, two second place finishes, um, just at the top of her game. You put them together headto head, this is what you get and this is what we signed up for. This kind of racing. No, I mean this is like people talk about so many times at a race. This is the best field ever.
Yeah, this is the best. Every time I hear it, I go, let’s see. And I think the best field ever is when athletes push the boundaries way, way beyond what we thought was in the immediate future. And you know, we really have three athletes that are pushing the boundaries right now. Let’s not forget Yeah. Laura Fur Phillip, our current Iron Man world champion, is doing what we know she can do, but way faster.
Yes. And then we have Cat Matthews who finished second at the Iron Man World Championship to Laura Phillip who also finished second at the 70.3 Iron Man World Championships. But then you have the rookie love set. Like this is an absolutely amazing day. It’s got to be probably the fastest debut
debut ever for for for women’s Iron Man racing. And that says a lot for the future and about the future and and how much how much talent is getting pushed to the Iron Man distance, how the um the Iron Man Pro series is making this possible. So for me, this is what when you describe what a race should be and what a worldass race is all about. I believe it’s about setting world records and and seeing how far you can push those limits and that’s exactly what we’re seeing by our current top three athletes right now.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think uh you hit the nail on the head with Sve Love Set. This is an incredible rookie performance to She’s probably going to go around 810. She’s sitting around, let’s see, 750 back, I think, for Laurent and Cat are probably going to go somewhere. Oh, we got 2.4 miles to go. So, they’re probably going to go more like 805
in like about 8 minutes. Yeah, about sorry. Yeah, 8 hours and 5 minutes I think. So, Solve will be, you know, just over 810. Again, 100% has to be the fastest rookie um time. Um and we’re just waiting for Cat Matthews to go over that 39.8.
It’s absolutely pelting down right now. that that’s a lot of rain in in in you know it’s like we started the day and we had to delay and now we’re getting a significant amount of of rain coming down. So it’ll be interesting to see if this helps Cat Matthews or Laura Phillips is just way too strong right now. And you know we’ve only got 2.4 kilometers so that’s about 7 and 1/2 7 and 1/2 minutes left. I’m not going to say it’s impossible because you never know. But yeah, it definitely looks like Laura Fillip is well on her way. Yep.
To winning the Iron Man Hamburg European Championship. Yeah, that gap has blown out to 119 now. So Cat Matthews um tried to go with and it did look like it was going through, you know, it was masterclass move by her in the end of the bike to get that gap. She held that gap at 30 seconds. It came down to 25 seconds, went back out to 45 seconds, and then Laura Phillips started to bring it back down ever so slightly, ever so slightly, and then made that pass, decisive pass, and Cat Matthews tried with all she had to go with her. And you could just see that elastic band just slipping out of her grasp. Um, a valiant performance from Cat Matthews, but this woman here, Laura Phillip, has paced this run to perfection and it’s going to be a sub240 marathon by all accounts. Um, we will see when she crosses that finish line, but certainly uh a world best time here in Hamburg.
Yeah, hopefully that, you know, these wet conditions don’t slow um Laura Phillip down too much over uh the last mile. the 1 just under 1.5 km because look how deep the water is right now through this section.
Yeah, that just tells you how much rain. So hopefully it doesn’t slow her down enough not to get that 238. I can’t believe I am actually saying that. 238 Iron Man marathon time. I knew that we were going to have an absolutely spectacular race with our two, our former record holder and our record holder. We’re about to we’re seeing right now it looks like our future record holder right now in Laura Field. I did not think that we were going to break another world record. I was hoping we would. This course is fast. Um, it’s it’s one of those races where you hope that, you know, you get this talent of athletes to see what they’re capable of doing, but there’s so many things about this that make it legendary. It’s like a legendary performance by three athletes. I have to keep saying that. Yes. Laura Phillip, absolutely amazing. Uh, world class, we already know. Legendary class. Yes. Yes. Yes. just looks so amazing and you know winning in Germany uh in your home country. I mean she is just going to be in tears when she crosses that finish line
in disbelief as well like to look at her watch at the end and and think wait I just ran sub 240 and look at the clock I’m I’m under that world record time. So, uh, yeah, I mean, just magical for her to be, you know, the local girl. Um, home country victory. Um, this is setting up for an exciting Kona showdown for these two women. And I think every, um, Iron Man female who’s vying for that world title in Coner has been put on notice. I mean, yes, Kona can be a different beast. Um, but Laura Phillip knows how to race Kona.
Laura Phillip has raced well in Kona before. Has she been on the podium in Kona, obviously won in Nice last year, has yet to take the top step in Kona, but that’s firmly in her sights. And I think a performance like this is only going to give her more confidence going into the second half of this season and into the championship season. But inside, okay, to go MJ.
Yeah, exactly. And I also think for Cat Matthews
that’s going to continue to light a fire.
Yes.
Perhaps if she won here maybe, you know, the fire would be a little bit dimmer. But now that flame is going to be so strong. Cat Matthews knows that this was going to be her last Iron Man before the Iron Man World Championship. So, she’s going to go back to all the details like she always does. And but they both do.
Yeah. Absolutely. Both of these athletes leave no stone unturned. Uh every detail is meticulously planned out. Um training, fueling, um equipment, mindset. Um they have it all going for them and they have had it all going for them today in this race putting together an incredible performance. Uh Laura Phillip now in the last half a kilometer. She is within 2 minutes of crossing that finish line. So, it’s going to be well and truly uh a a performance for the ages.
Yeah. And and you know, from that first stroke to the final strides in this uh in this marathon, Iron Man Hamburg has definitely delivered once again, you know, we’ve we saw a world record here not too long ago ago, and now we’re seeing another dream realized, another world record about to happen. I mean, three legends are are born today for for for different reasons.
Yeah, absolutely. I think um Laura Phillip is already a legend and so is Cat Matthews, I think. Uh you know,
but this is like extraordinary legendary status.
Absolutely. And as I said, these two women will remember this performance along with their niece performance um for many years to come beyond retirement. Uh these sort of battles are really what you live for in the moment. So tough, so hard. You’re like, why? I don’t want to be in this battle. But they will remember this battle long after they hang up their triathlon bike and shoes. But Laura Phillip now 300 m to go. She is making her last couple of turns into town and she will be able to roll down that magic red carpet and call herself the European Iron Man Hamburg Championship. More importantly, the record holder yet again. Cat only got to hold it for a few weeks. I know. I I think Cat will still be very happy with this performance to to back it up after Iron Man Texas only a couple of weeks ago. Of course, Laura feel that we put a little question mark cuz she raced last week at a 70.3, but you know, she knew exactly, you know, her crew, her team knew exactly what they needed to do and she had confidence that having a hit out like that before an Iron Man distance event is what she needed to do. And I have nothing but respect for for all these athletes, but particularly going out. Oh, look. There’s the first amount of emotion that we’ve seen. Uh she gives a little high five to the bike leader. And there she goes making that final turn onto the magic carpet. The 2025 Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Champion is Laura Phillip. McKily No, no words. I mean, the overall time, the run time, Laura Phillip and Cat Matthews are just on another level. This race was just incredible. And we’ll see Cat Matthews around that bend shortly. and she is always a gracious champion and she is always gracious in defeat too. So we will I’m sure she’ll be disappointed that she wasn’t able to get the job done here but and the Wahoo Element rival run time 23827 yes I said that correctly. Um that’s the official run time for Laura Phillip breaking 240. Uh again, unheard of. 23827 for the marathon.
Yeah, incredible run. And I think Cat Matthews may scrape under that 240 or be very close to it um as well. So, here she comes. Cat Matthews is on her way to the red carpet.
And you know, she fought hard all day. She was the aggressor. Um, had a fantastic swim. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen her lead a swim basically out of the water. You know, aggressive on the bike. Uh, particularly that last 10k. You know, she threw down. She did everything she could to to get to the finish line in first place. Unfortunately, Laura Phillip was just that little bit better today. And that’s what it is. Just on that day was a little better. But here’s Cat Matthews, second place at the guitar Airways, Iron Man Hamburg and tears of pain. Yeah, I think just agony after putting in such an effort to to stay with Laura going beyond what her body wanted to absolutely what her mind wanted to do. her body could not accomplish at the end of this race.
And she ran a 24058. So close to that 240. But I think when she looks back, as disappointing as she may be as we see Laura Phillip, like you know, this is this is the effort that it took. Yeah, we see Mark uh Cat’s husband. Um, you know, he can trust him always to make her smile. You know, she’s in a world of hurt. Uh, that Iron Man hurt is a deep, deep burn, I can tell you. Um, but Cat Matthews, I’m sure, just wants to close her eyes and and lie down and go to sleep right now. And um and as much as it hurts to not win, I think like Mark her husband was correct in saying you went 805 13, you ran a 240 58.
Like as disappointing as that is in the moment, I think when she realized exactly what both of these athletes achieved because they achieved it together because without both of them being on the course, this was not possible. They really like pushed each other to the absolute limits. And that’s what you’re seeing here right now. Just that raw emotion, the the physical aspect of pushing your body to go 80313 and 80513. So, both women under Cat Matthews 810 that she did in Texas. Um, but Laura Phillip will be the Iron Man world record holder after that phenomenal performance. But both women completely shattered, emptied the tanks. That was everything they had. And now we have SVG Loet Love Set. And she, this is her debut Iron Man. So again, just an incredible performance breaking her handlebar or her arrow bar and riding 50 km with one arrow bar kind of hanging down before she stopped. Got that fixed. Hopped back on the bike, bridged back up to Cat and Laura, who weren’t riding slow, by the way, like on world record pace. And then putting together again another very fast run. It looks like she’s going to be in the neighborhood of 24659ish. Um, so a very fast marathon as well. this is the future of the sport.
And just and just the tenacity, the fact that, you know, she got out on that bike course and she was not afraid to push the pace and she just showed true grit when that handlebar came loose and she had to ride up through past 60k with one handlebar. Absolutely amazing to actually have the mental aptitude and strength to keep fighting. She obviously was feeling good, but then Reinnie to like fall back a minute to tighten up that handlebar and then ride back, not just up to Philillip and Matthews, she rode past them and made them push to catch back up.
Yeah. So I I guess the the ladies have this woman to thank as well for the fast bike time because she was on the front a lot on the bike and and pushing the pace. Um so these three women together were a perfect storm for these record-breaking times. And again, this has to be it is I’m going to say it. Um it is a record time for the debut for your first Iron Man. So um hats off to Solving Love Set. An incredible performance and I think I quite certain a very bright future for this young woman. no outstanding performance from her and you know as I said you know there was so many things that went against her and you know when she got off that that bike and she started the marathon you know it’s like I think patience was was perfect way to describe those first few miles you know she realized she had to to get her nutrition in slow down a little bit get those run legs back we we know that she has like a a a great run pedigree having run a 116 and like on the way to run probably like a 246 today in the first time she’s ever doing an Iron Man marathon. Like so many exciting things for her in the future and uh she’s going to also uh punch her ticket to the Iron Man World Championships in Kona in in October. So, she’s going to be the first athlete to get the first slot as our two athletes before her, Philillip and Matthews, already have their Kona slots.
Yes. So, uh, athletes now racing, of course, for the prize money for today, but also for Kona slots and IM Pro Series points. Um, Love Set I don’t believe is racing the Iron Man Pro Series or at least she has not um made mention of that just yet, but I think she’ll make a plan around the rest of her season when she gets through this one and sees if she actually likes the Iron Man distance. I whether she likes it or not, I think it likes her because she has had a phenomenal debut here today in Hamburg. will take that third step behind two record-breaking performances, Laura Phillip and Cat Matthews.
And I’m excited to to see her race a 70.3 World Championships, too.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, obviously she’s got good leg speed. I mean, obviously we know Cat Matthews is one of the most versatile athletes. Um, but we also know, you know, just from the couple of races that Love Set has done that she is very, very good at the 70.3 as well. Yeah, absolutely. She brought that um speed from her short course background and here she is on the red carpet in third place here today. Solve Lubset will come across the line with that last place on the podium. She looks pretty happy coming down that finish shoot. Yeah. So, she’s going to walk away with a time of 81228 and a 24640. Just absolutely amazing performance. First time ever racing the Iron Man distance, just stepping up after competing at the Paris Olympics last year. Has to be by far the fastest rookie performance ever.
Absolutely. I think that’s fourth fastest time ever.
Yes. Fourth fastest time. So Laura,
Jackie Herring.
No, slower than that. Jackie and Laura’s times were 8 18 and 19 respectively. So Laura Phillip,
Cat Matthews, Cat Matthews, SVG.
That’s pretty amazing. Incredible. Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship is brought to you by Athletic Brewing. Brew without compromise. and by Wahoo Reie. I just cannot believe how many records were were were shattered today and like how many stories were written and oh my good Yeah. ridden to and and the memories that we are going to have from this absolutely recordbreaking day, you know, it’s it’s just just so amazing when you get to see such outstanding performances and I know that I am going to walk away from this and go, I can’t believe
we’re going to go down to the high price recovery zone with Paul’s
Iron Man Hamburg. Ber European Championship. As if you didn’t know that already. What a race you’ve been treated to. I’m with our champion. A winner again here in Hamburg. She won in 2022. Our reigning Iron Man World Champion, but it feels like it was another world championship today between you and Cat.
Yeah, it was absolutely mental. Like I think we were kind of we were glued together for like the entire race and I imagine for like eight hours like being glued together and uh yeah it was super tough and uh for a long time it looked like cat would run away with it and uh I just tried to be calm, be patient because you know a marathon is a long game and uh luckily it paid off uh that I let her go a little bit um and just did my own thing and I really you you know that the crowd was crazy. I hope you guys could see it from back home. Like they were screaming so loud. I think it was really next level uh cheering here on the course. So that definitely helped me big time to try, you know, go all out on the last lap. And when I overtook Kat or first caught her, I couldn’t believe it. And right now I’m still speechless. Uh I’m close to, you know, uh need to lie down. Like I’m I’m really done. But also like super super proud. Lara 803 potentially. Well, firstly the fastest time for an Iron Man in the world beating cats 8010 just from the other day. 810 but it could have been sub 8 without our long transition.
Yeah, I think so Hamburg. If you want us to go sub eight, you have to do something about the long transition zones.
But a phenomenal battle. You must be extremely proud. This is positions you very well for October.
Absolutely. Like I mean I said beforehand it’s still very early but of course this is like a big boost and um I will take it and uh yeah hopefully recover well and then uh continue to build strong towards Kona in October.
Thank you so much Lara Phillip your champion in first place. Now we bring second place. What a battle she gave us. What a day it was. Cat Matthews, you never fail to impress and entertain. talk us through what has been one of the best battles we’ve watched in years.
Oh, do you think that was better than N? I’m glad. Well, I’m really proud about that. Thank you. Um, talk you through it. Ah, I couldn’t shake her all day and she got the better of me at 10K to go or have whatever it was.
I mean, did did you feel like you had it under control? No, I don’t think if um if an athlete of the caliber of Laura Phillip and current world champion is in your eyesight, you’re not in control. Listen, it’s still a phenomenal start to 2025 for you. You’re looking amazing for Kona Cam Matthews. Thank you so much.
Thank you everyone. Thank you.
There we go. That is our second place. Now we’re bringing our third position, a young Viking from Norway. And here on our Pro Series broadcast, you saw only a month ago in Venice Yellow, the winner of the Iron Man 70.3 now on debut, SVG Lovith. Incredible. You said you wanted a Kona slot, but you’ve got a podium as well. Congratulations. Yeah, even better.
Talk us through the day.
Oh, um, really eventful.
Well, you had a really eventful time on the bike with your arrow bars.
Yeah, I didn’t know Iron Man’s was that eventful. I sort of had a feeling that would they would be a bit boring since they’re so long, right? Like at least parts of it, but I felt like it was happening things all the time. So, I was really happy in my swim. Um, I uh really early tried to get onto Cat’s feet and managed to do that and she was great and was pulling basically the whole swim. So, I was just really happy that I managed to hang on really. Um, but on the bike it was I was starting with Laura and Cut right away and I was thinking like this is really cool. I felt really cool riding with them. Yeah. And then obviously my arrow bar started um spinning around and I think I sort of jinxed myself cuz like on the prop panel two days ago I said that like my biggest challenge with moving to long distance is that I just never feel like I have like my bike sorted out properly. So um I guess that’s still true. So I need to for me it’s like triathlon is swim bike run mechanic. So uh I need to improve on that as well. And uh yeah, I rode with it like upside down for like 45k and then I came to the stationary mechanic and he was great and he sorted it out really fast and then had to work a bit hard to get up to uh Catalanora again. I think they rode quite easy for a bit there actually. So that was great for me. Um but then on the last lap like after 120k or something then cat just really started to send it on the front and then I was a bit dumb. So I was working really hard for like 30 40k and then the last 20 I was just like need to save my legs a bit for the run and honestly I didn’t really think I would be able to run with them anyway. So then uh I just eased off a bit towards the end and actually on the run I ran quite even the whole way. So, a bit positive split, but actually felt surprisingly good. Um, and that um that thunderstorm thing on the last lap was great cuz then I was just like trying to find something to distract myself with and that was just exactly what I needed. So, um yeah, all in all, uh good I think. And
very very good I think on debut. And if I’m not mistaken, it’s a brand new Iron Man record on debut. Remember this name from Norway, the new Viking queen, Sov Lovith, third on debut and she’s going to Kona, baby. That’s it. From the Hyper Ice Recovery Zone. Here’s Elizabeth in the middle of the perfect workout for her. To create it, we analyzed her biometrics and genetics, And that, my friends, is how you do an Iron Man race. Uh, we were treated to an unbelievable performance today here at Iron Man Hamburg, the European Championship. Laura Phillip and Cat Matthews going headto-head and then the rookie Solve Love Seth just incredible on debut. Uh certainly the first the fastest debut Iron Man time we’ve ever seen. Two women going under the last mark which was Cat Matthews. Laura Phillip taking back that um that title. We are going to go down for the podium presentation here momentarily. But uh we were really treated to a phenomenal day of racing. Fast course but incredible competition. Here we go. Down to the podium. when we had SVG Loveth 81228, Cat Matthews in 80513, and we had Laura Phillip 80313 sub 240 marathon. Cat just tick a tick over 240 in the marathon. Honestly, these women were something else today. Well, you know, we we talked about a race of the ages, but it was actually a field of the ages. We had weather day weather delays. We had run splits that defined what we thought was ever possible. Breakout performances with Lovick, you know, rookie who who rose to the to the the third place on the podium. the crowd, the course, the energy, and a statement for every single other female pro out there. Yeah, Cat Matthews there taking that second spot. It was an incredible val battle between her and Laura Phillip. Um Laura just able to overtake Cat in the last seven kilometers of that race and um pull away for the win. at Cat Matthews just to tick over 240 in the marathon. Again, 805. That’s an incredibly fast time. And Laura Phillip, she swam 5440. She biked 4238 and she ran 23827 for a time of 80313. Laura Phillip is our European champion. for Iron Man World Champion Mackily Jones. I’m Miranda Carfrey. Thanks for watching Qatar Airways Iron Man Hamburg European Championship. Watch on demand replays of all Iron Man Pro Series broadcasts exclusively in the US and Canada. Sign up for Outside Plus today. globally. Watch ProSeries.ironman.com, ironmanry YouTube channel, or any of our global distributors. The next Iron Man Pro Series broadcast is on June 8th, Qatar Airways. Iron Man 70.3 Eagleman. enemy. Hey This copyrighted broadcast of World Triathon Corporation may not be retransmitted, reproduced, rebroadcast, or otherwise distributed or used in any form without express written consent of World Triathon Corporation. Hello. Hello. Heat. Heat.
12 Comments
An advertisement for allowing the men to have their own world championships on their own day, otherwise we wouldn't see much of them. Let's make the most of these last ones (in 2025) where the men can take centre stage (in Nice) without the women getting all the coverage.
Great stream. Really enjoyed the commentary. Lots of insightful anecdotes.
Where are the men tho?
These two are epic!!! 💪💪💪
Gets these girls off commentary
Thank You Hamburg, the 5 hours i need to Go to Braunschweig (180 km away) , where AWESOME . Next time please close the whole country , when You having the ironmen 2026.
i've watched this whole race. every single minute, without missing a beat. Thank you KAT, for bringing the heat, for carrying the race, for putting in the legwork, for the lions share, for the SUPERHUMAN performance!! And thank you LAURA, for putting the dot in the "i". You are both NOTHING SHORT OF LEGENDS and i will never forget this race! (probably gonna watch it again) THANK YOU, QUEENS! – and Solveig, the world wasn't ready for you until today, now it is!!!!
Cool to have the stream the Morning After my Race here in Hamburg. Thanks Ironman, it was a great expirience.
It's amazing how the event has moved on. I could never have imagined a woman getting so close to Dave Scott's iconic mark.
Ms chauhan sir ❤❤❤❤
Nooo how can you comment this and butcher the german words this badly. She said Hungferschenschlieg
Instead of Jungfernstieg
Are you serious 4:35
Wow! Two Champions! Absolutely Incredible Masterclass from Both!
This race left such a bad taste in my mouth. Of course Laura Philips is going to run a time like that and not fall apart if she drafts for the ENTIRE bike leg, AND the swim. It’s within the rules, but i just can’t respect it. Kat Mathews is the superior athlete.