Thorsten

Career Highlights

• Multiple Ironman podium finishes

2015 Season

• 2nd IM Western Australia 9:00:21 
• 11th IM Melbourne 9:24:33
• 7th IM Brasil 9:14:50
• 3rd IM Switzerland 9:35:26

Mareen has been on the Kona qualifying bubble for the last few years. In 2013 she qualified but had a frustrating DNF with technical issues on the bike. In 2014 season she raced 6 Ironman races (in addition to Kona) but needed one slot to roll down – which didn’t happen for the female Pros. The KPR rule changes for 2015 – allowing only up to three scoring IMs instead of five as earlier – also impacted her qualifying strategy.

Collecting points for Kona 2015 started well for her: At IM Western Australia she was in the lead for a long time and finished in second place with a new Ironman PR of just over 9 hours. Melbourne didn’t go quite as well, she wasn’t in top form after being sick and not being able to start IM New Zealand two weeks before. She followed that up with a 7th place in Brasil in May – she struggled on the run when she discovered that the run aid stations didn’t have any gels. She still needed more points to qualify and decided to race her fourth Ironman of the season in Switzerland. After a solid race she finished in 3rd place – exactly what she needed for the remaining points.

Mareen is really looking forwards to Kona: “It is the most important race of the season for me. I’m really looking forward to it! After a week of training in Fuerteventura, I’ll fly to Kona two weeks before the race. I am not worried about acclimatizing – I’m doing well in heat and wind. I don’t look for a specific place, but aim for the best performance I have done so far. The bike and run suit me and I will hopefully end up in the first half of the field. Getting out of the water with the front pack would help a lot, but this won’t happen.” Her race plan is similar to that of a couple of other athletes: Limit the time she looses on the swim, then make up time on the bike and try to hold on during the run. In 2012 she finished 19th with a time of 9:52. This year, she’ll have to be about 20 minutes faster to finish in a similar place.

(Photo: Mareen on the run at IM Brasil. Supplied by Mareen.)

This is an excerpt from my free “Kona Rating Report” – 150+ pages with tons of information about the Kona Pro races!

Career Highlights

• 6th Ironman Hawaii 2014
• Multiple Ironman Winner (Arizona, South Africa)

2015 Season

• 5th IM Melbourne 8:12:58
• 2nd 70.3 Austria, 1st 70.3 Gdynia
• 1st Challenge Roth 7:51:28
• 22nd 70.3 Championship

It’s interesting to look at the comments Nils has made last year before Kona: “I don’t know what to expect and where I fit into that incredible field of athletes. A good Kona result is one of my main goals for the future. In 2014 I’ll find out my initial situation. Then I can start to chase the better-placed athletes year after year. Hopefully I won’t have so many to chase!“ Not many people knew Nils before last year’s Kona – after his 6th place that’s going to be a bit different this year!

He started his 2015 season by lining up at the Regional Champs in Melbourne. He posted a new bike course record, building an 11 minute lead. But he wasn’t able to hold on to his lead when he started to struggle around 30k into the marathon, eventually running a disappointing 3:04 marathon. But that race secured his Kona slot and he was ready to focus on his summer race Challenge Roth. Last year he took the lead on the bike only to be run down in the end by Timo Bracht. This year Nils never left any doubt that he would win the race. His 7:51 is the third fastest time of the year. “Clearly, my win at Challenge Roth is the highlight of the year so far. The fast time was the icing on the cake.”

His only “sub-par” result this season was 70.3 Champs in Zell am See – he was still in a decent position coming off the bike, but was only able to finish 22nd. “My bad result in Zell am See gives me extra motivation. There was a lot going wrong both before and during the race.”

But for Nils the main race of the season is Kona: “To be honest Roth already feels as if it’s been ages ago – I’m totally pumped for Kona. Of course my season has gone well so far, but I want to deliver another great performance in Kona, ideally my best performance of the year. The attraction of Kona can’t be compared with any other race. Kona is the race where everyone tries to be in top shape. The combination of a one-day event where a lot can happen with the Ironman history – there is nothing better in our sport!”
After last year’s great debut, what’s Nils’ goal for this year? “I’d like to show a performance on the same level as last year and be active in race. If I can do that, a good place will take care of itself.” Has he identified any weaknesses after last year’s race? “I’ve only raced Kona once, and didn’t really show any glaring weaknesses there. But there are a lot of small things that make a difference. I was surprised by the speed at the start of the bike with a number of pace changes. That’s one of the areas I’ve been working on … I know that it takes a while for me to get used to the heat and humidity. That’s why I’ll spend all of September in Texas where the climate is pretty similar to Kona. Last year I’ve done a similar preparation in Florida and it worked pretty well. Once I was in Kona I adjusted much quicker than if I had come straight from Germany.”

Nils may not be as much in the focus as the main German contenders, Sebastian and Frodo. For example there was a lot of press when Frodo showed off the new Canyon Triathlon bike in Frankfurt. It went pretty much unnoticed that Nils was on the same model just one week later (you can see the bike and its distinct aero bottle and speed box in the picture). But it’s clear that he is focused on a good performance in Kona, not only in this year but in the long run.

After finishing in the Top 10 on his debut, his next logical step forward would be a spot on the podium and Nils is definitely one of the contenders. But at 29 years of age, he is still young for an Ironman triathlete and can afford to take a few more learning years before stepping up. I think just repeating his Top 10 from last year will be a good result for him – we have seen a lot of athletes that have finished well and then struggled the next year. He has the strength in all three disciplines to adjust to a changing race – he should be able to swim with the front group, then stay with the first group on the bike or even go with the faster bikers when they ride away. His run in Kona last year has shown that he’s still able to run strong in the last 10k when the final ranking is decided. We may end up with an all German male podium this year!

(Photo: Nils on his new Canyon bike while training in Texas. Credit: Sarah Fladung)

This is an excerpt from my free “Kona Rating Report” – 150+ pages with tons of information about the Kona Pro races!

Career Highlights

• Multiple IM-distance winner (Barcelona, UK, Wales, Lanzarote)

2015 Season

• 2nd IM South Africa 9:31:20
• 1st 70.3 Staffordshire
• 1st IM UK 9:31:58

Last year Lucy was racing Kona for the first time as a Pro (she had raced before as an agegrouper). It almost seems as if she was a bit intimidated by the race and the field – and she didn’t have a good race, walking for most of the run with an injury she didn’t take the time to properly take care of as she was afraid she’d loose to much time in her Kona prep. Loosing her bike sponsor in the winter had her question the path she’d chosen – she’d decided to try Pro triathlon for a bit before returning to her career as a Medical Doctor.

After being back healthy (and with a new bike sponsor), she qualified for Kona without having to focus on points – a second place in the Regional Champs in South Africa took care of the bulk of points, and winning 70.3 Staffordshire put her in safe territory for Kona. Nonetheless she decided to race IM UK. “Winning on home soil is always special and this was the first time I’d entered a race with the sole goal of winning. I think this was probably the best race of my career to date and the support from the crowds was unrivalled.” After a 3:03 marathon she was leading by more than 30 minutes and could take some extra time to celebrate her win in the finish chute.

Going into Kona, Lucy feels very motivated to do well: “I’ve got unfinished business from last year! If I didn’t go back it would have beaten me – I don’t like getting beaten!” At the same time, she has learned from last year: “I’m definitely going into Kona much more rested. Last year I was digging myself a hole in the run up. This year I’m of the philosophy that it’s better to be fresh so have been far less scared of holding back when I’m tired.”

Lucy decided to do most of her preparation in the UK. “I have tried to stick to the formula that works for me: Keeping it fun and doing some low key races as training. I’ve done some decent time trials recently (100 mile and 50 mile) which have provided me with the confidence that I’m strong on flat fast courses as well as hilly ones.” (One should note that one of the ‘decent time trials’ was a 100 mile time of 3hr 48min – the second fastest 100 on record!) What about the Kona heat? “I’ve done a bit of heat prep this time – watt bike sessions in a hot yoga room. I’ve got a bit longer out in Kona this year before the race to acclimatise fully.”

What will be possible for Lucy this year? Based on the numbers, she should be just outside the Top 10. But as she has never really competed in Kona and usually races harder, slower courses she could actually do much better. Being a minute or two faster on the swim could have a big impact on what group she’ll be able to ride with and anyone who can run around 3:05 in the Kona heat will make up a lot of spots on the run. Maybe we’ll see her in the Top 10 this year? “I want to put together a race that lets me dance down the finish line smiling. If I’m doing that I’ll be proud of my performance. I know I’m fit so I hope I can do myself justice!”

(Photo: Lucy celebrating her win at IM UK. Supplied by Lucy)

This is an excerpt from my free “Kona Rating Report” – 150+ pages with tons of information about the Kona Pro races!

Career Highlights

• Winner IM UK 2015
• 7th Commonwealth Games 2014

2015 Season

• 7th IM South Africa 8:43:35
• 3rd 70.3 Mallorca, 70.3 Kraichgau
• 1st IM UK 8:46:37
• 4th 70.3 Mallorca

Up until last year, David has been racing Olympic Distance, getting a number of Top 10 finishes in ITU World Triathlon Series races and fishing 7th in the 2014 Commonwealth Games 2014. This year he stepped up to longer distance racing. “The vibe at Ironman/70.3 events is very different from Olympic distance racing.  Athletes are a lot more relaxed around one another and there’s much better integration between the pros and age group competitors.  For me, racing in fewer races than I am used to has led me to being more excited to get out there and deliver when the opportunity comes.”

His start of the season was Challenge Dubai (as far as I can tell his fist race longer than Olympic Distance), and even if a 21st place finish doesn’t sound like much, his 1:13 run was faster than the split of winner Terenzo Bozzone. Still, he didn’t really know what to expect of this year: “Joel [Filliol, Davis’s coach] and I never really sat down and defined what success would look like for me this year, mainly because there were too many unknown factors.  How would my body adapt to the training?  How long would it take to get use to a TT bike?  How long would it take even figure out how to race these events? A lot of these unknowns I still desperately need to sort out and improve.”

David’s first Ironman was IM South Africa in March, loosing a bit of time on the bike but finishing the marathon in 2:54 and placing 7th. He had a couple of podium finishes in 70.3s against good fields and then raced his “home” Ironman in Bolton. Again, he lost some time on the bike (but was only four minutes slower than his mani competitors), but his strong run carried the day. His 2:51 was the fastest marathon of the day by quite a margin, and he won the race by almost five minutes! He also secured a Kona slot, so he is happy with his first long distance season.

Coming into Kona, David still feels he has areas he can improve: “My main limiter is the current lack of ability to put out a good enough180k bike leg. Kona is currently the only race that matters, especially in the contenders eyes.  I don’t think I fully appreciated the importance of it, even the achievement of reaching it until this season.  The fact it’s only once a year, also the only time everyone goes head to head makes it more significant to the athletes than say an ITU Grand Final.  An average year could all of a sudden become pretty special if you deliver on the right day.”

Being the first time in Kona, there are not too many expectations on David. While he probably won’t make the first swim group, he shouldn’t be too far back. The main question for him will be how he deals with the ton of people that will blow by him on the bike: Most of the people that swim a similar time will probably put ten to fifteen minutes on the bike into him. If he saves his legs for the run, he may still be able to place well – for him that’ll probably mean a Top 20.

(Photo: David winning IM UK, supplied by David.)

There are a lot more profiles like this in my free “Kona Rating Report” – 150+ pages with tons of information about the Kona Pro races!