IM Hawaii

Sara received a late roll-down July slot on August 10th when Lisa Roberts declined her slot. We’ve had an email discussion but not quite in time for my “Kona 2018 Rating Report”, but here are some of her thoughts before her first Kona race. 

Thorsten: How do you view your season so far? You were working hard for a Kona slot and raced a lot?

Sara: It has been a lot of ups and downs during the season but it has also being a learning experience for me. I’m new in the sport and right now I’m just trying to get as much experience as I can and try to develop as much as possible. This journey is special and I am enjoying the process. Of course it really hard sometimes but you always learn something from your setbacks or from a competition that didn’t go as you planned.

T: How will you prepare for Kona? Are there specific “areas” that you’ll be focusing on?

S: I will probably be a lot fresher, my body is responding to all the hard training and I recover fast. I really need to focus on heat adaption. Coming from a cold country like Sweden it could be a struggle if you don’t get it right. I love the heath though.

T: There are a lot of Scandinavian ladies on the Kona startlist. Why do you think are they so successful these days?

S: I believe that men and women in the Scandinavian countries are given almost the same opportunities to do sport on a professional level. Triathlon is a small sport in Sweden and the other Nordic countries and you need someone to make the first step and set the first mark. Seeing Michelle Vesterby, Camilla Pedersen, Helle Frederiksen, Maja Stage and Asa Lundstroem really inspires me and probably other women in Denmark and Sweden. They showed that it is possible to come from a small cold country and still to be able to compete on the highest level. We are getting there with Patrik Nilsson setting the first Swedish mark and I think will see a lot of Swedish guys in the future.

T: What’s the plan for your first race in Kona?

S: I just want to do a good race. I will mostly focus on my race and try to stick to my plan.

T: Are there any specific plans for racing after Kona?

S: We’ll see how Kona goes and take it from there. But probably a little break 😊

Photo: Sara training for the run. Credit: Romulo Cruz

This is an excerpt from my “Kona 2018 Rating Report“. You can download your copy here.

David was a big surprise on the 2017 Kona podium. Similar to Patrick, he was able to limit the time he lost on the bike and then was able to have the second-best marathon of the day – running himself into third place and becoming the first male British athlete on the podium.

David struggled in his 2018 Ironman when he finished IM Austria with a sub-standard 3:30 marathon. But he’s had a couple of good 70.3 that show he’s still able to race (and run!) well. He’s also proven in the past that he races well in the Kona heat – he’s one of the few athletes that have set their marathon PR in Kona. (The only other male Pro racing this year is Patrick Lange.)

With his run strength in Kona, David has an outside chance to repeat on the podium, especially if 2018 Kona becomes another runner’s race.

Photo: David on the run at 70.3 Barcelona where he finished second to Javier Gomez. Credit: James Mitchell

This is an excerpt from my “Kona 2018 Rating Report“. You can download your copy here.

Sarah had a great 2017 Ironman racing season that included two Regional Championships and a third place in Kona, when she rode with Daniela for most of the bike ride and then battled with Heather Jackson for the whole marathon. After struggling with a few injuries at the start of the season, Sarah is back to racing well: She was third at the European Championships and then won IM Hamburg just three weeks later.

Sarah is doing well in competitive fields and always seems to have something extra to give when a race is getting tight. You can expect another test of her “racing smarts” in Kona, as it’s very likely that there is going to be less than five minutes between second and sixth place late in the race. And if she manages to improve on her series of 3:04 to 3:06 marathons, she may even be able to set her sights a bit higher than “just another” podium finish.

Photo: Sarah on the IM Hamburg bike course. Credit: James Mitchell

This is an excerpt from my “Kona 2018 Rating Report“. You can download your copy here.

Heather has raced Kona three times now, finishing fifth (2015), third (2016) and fourth (2017). Obviously, she’ll be eying another podium finish this year. Her results in 2018 include wins at Wildflower, 70.3 Chattanooga and a dominating win at IM Lake Placid. Even with tough conditions, she was just nine minutes off her own course record.

In her previous Kona races Heather has been able to move through the field on the bike and then secure a good finish with a strong run. Further improvements in the swim would make it easier for her to move into a great position in T2. She’s nominally the best bike rider among the top contenders (of course with the exception of Daniela who is on a completely different level on the bike), but she will also have to deal with other athletes trying to stay with her. With the number of strong runners in the Kona field, she’ll be looking for a gap after the bike, she said that she’s still having nightmares of running the whole marathon with Sarah Crowley in a battle for third place. Heather is one of the few athletes who set their run PR in Kona (3:06 from last year), and for another finish in the Top 3 she probably needs to set a new one this year.

Photo: Heather on the way to her third place finish in Kona 2016. Credit: Jay Prasuhn