Career Highlights

• 7th Kona 2014
• Multiple IM-distance Winner (IM Western Australia, Challenge Copenhagen)

2015 Season

• 2nd IM Melbourne 8:07:57
• 1st 70.3 Sunshine Coast

Last year was the first time that Tim qualified for Kona. He had to chase points until June, but after his 2nd place in Cairns he could focus on Kona and was one of the positive surprises in 7th place. That result allowed him to only focus on two highlights this year: Melbourne (to validate) and Kona. He had to work hard all day in Melbourne with some back problems. Nonetheless he pulled through and finished second, calling it “a $#*!!y way of earning money”. After making some coaching changes in the summer and a long training block in Boulder, he seems to be on a good trajectory for Kona, winning the 70.3 Sunshine Coast against a strong field.

In order to do well he has to hope that the pace is not too insane in the swim and early part of the bike: If he can make the front group, his experience from last year should help him to better position himself and avoid being forced to burn too many matches to stay with the group. He then hopes that an improved run (longer runs and running on tired legs) gives him a good chance to repeat last year’s performance – or maybe even stay in the 4th place that he was in for a good while after the Energy Lab.

(Photo: Tim winning 70.3 Sunshine Coast, Credit: Delly Carr)

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Career Highlights

• IM Winner (Arizona)
• 3 sub-9 finishes in her first IM-distance races (Roth 2011/12/13)
• 6th Kona 2014

2015 Season

• 1st 70.3 Luxembourg
• 2nd IM Germany 9:01:58
• 6th 70.3 Champs

Last year’s six place finish in Kona was a huge success for Julia. This year she will try to confirm her position as a Top 10 Kona athlete and maybe take the next step towards the podium.

The quiet, determined German has made some changes after Kona 2014: She switched coaches to Wolfram Bott who also works with the Raelert Brothers and Nils Frommhold. Together they decided to put the focus on improving on her bike leg. Judging the way Julia was performing in Frankfurt, they are already seeing the results: Julia was staying in a group with Caroline and Daniela, and when Daniela put down the hammer on the second bike loop, Julia was able to ride away from Caroline and still able to run a 3:09 marathon in the heat. Even if Julia wasn’t fully rested for Zell am See, she managed a respectable 6th place finish.

Last year her final preparation was at home in Germany, mostly on her own. She arrived two weeks before the race to get acclimatized to the heat and humidity. This year she prepared in a training camp in The Woodlands, Texas with a number of other athletes and coach Wolfram Bott.

What will be possible for her in Kona this year? “I hope to confirm my result from last year as I expect a lot tighter race for the Top 10 this year. A dream would be finishing on the podium.” A lot will depend on her swim – last year she struggled a bit in rough Kona conditions with swells and currents. In the non-wetsuit swim in Frankfurt she was able to stay with Caroline and Daniela – if she swims as well in Kona she may even end up in the bike front pack instead of a group close to Rinny as last year. She has run a sub-3 marathon before (Roth 2013), her recent runs were between 3:02 and 3:09 – other than Rinny she is one of the strongest runners among the Top10 contenders in the Kona heat. But the field in Kona is so close that even a good race can result in almost anything between a 3rd and 15th place for Julia.

(Photo: Julia “flying” on the run in 70.3 Champs, Credit: Skinfit International)

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

Career Highlights

• Kona Champion 2014
• 70.3 World Champion 2012 & 2013

2015 Season

• 2nd Ironman Frankfurt 8:01:39
• 2nd 70.3 World Champs

The defending champion would love a repeat of the 2014 race: “Sebi” quickly made up four minutes he lost on the swim, then rode away from the field, posting a 4:20 bike split that was more than 10 minutes faster than the rest of the Top10.  A controlled 2:54 marathon allowed him to win the race by five minutes. Sebi might be limited to one race plan: Build a lead with a hard bike, then maintain it on the run. But Kona 2014 proved that it’s hard to counter that strategy when he is on form.

Kona Champions often struggle in the year after their win as there is a lot of demand on their time in the days before the race. Pete Jacobs seemed a bit overwhelmed by it, Frederik Van Lierde tried to avoid it by having his own press conference and minimizing all other events. Sebi enjoys the interaction and banter before the race, but he will try to manage the demands on his time as much as possible. “I hope that there will be a lot more demand for me after the race than before the race”, he says.

Sebi has had a solid 2015 season so far. For any other athlete a second place in Frankfurt would have been a great result (especially considering that his bike split was faster than last year despite the heat). But after being dominated by Jan Frodeno in Frankfurt, he will be very motivated to be the top German finisher in Kona. Sebi also wants to continue his streak of World Championships: He was 70.3 Champ in 2012 & 2013 and Kona Champ in 2014.

Kona is the only chance left for a World title this year, and Sebi will be ready. He’s following a similar plan as in the years before, arriving about five weeks before the race in Hawaii: “That plan fits me very well, you don’t have all the travel hassle at a time where you do the last hard training block (15 to 12 days before the race). Overall my training was more race specific, more four to six hour sessions at race intensity.” His great run split in Zell am See (faster than Jan and Javier Gomez) shows that he has already improved on the run. (Sebi views that result as his highlight of the season so far.) The gap in T2 that the other athletes can afford is smaller than ever before.

(Photo: Sebi on the run in Frankfurt, Credit: TriRating)

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Career Highlights

• Three-time Kona Champion (2010,13,14)
• Kona Course Record 8:52:14 (2013) and Run Course Record 2:50:26 (2014)
• 70.3 Champion 2007

2015 Season

• 7th IM Melbourne 9:08:39
• 3rd 70.3 Vineman

The last two years, Rinny’s exceptional marathon has been the deciding factor in Kona, and it was amazing to see her overcome a 14 minute deficit in 2014 with a new run course record of 2:50:26.

“The big difference this year is the addition of athletes like Angela Naeth, Melissa Hauschildt and Heather Jackson – these three ladies have been racking up 70.3 victories for years and none of them have raced in Kona yet. They are all very strong bikers and it will be interesting to see how their presence influences the race.” In order for her superb run to matter, she has to limit the time lost on the swim and run. With everyone else working to improve their marathon time, anything over 12 minutes in T2 will be hard to make up for her this year. Rinny and her coach Siri Lindley will have to find the right balance of improving her bike without sacrificing her run strength.

After racing a big summer race last year by winning Challenge Roth, Rinny is back to the season plan she is comfortable with: Validate early (she raced Challenge Melbourne in March), then prepare for Kona in Boulder. “For me the whole year revolves around Kona. I take the full year to build up for this one race. Not many changes from other Kona build ups – continuing to be consistent in my training, it has served me well in the past. It’s the small 1% improvements that come along every so often that allow you to continue to improve. It’s always about being a better athlete than you were the year before. I think that’s realistic and would be a dream race for sure.”Having just done a few shorter races makes it hard to determine how her season went, and she herself isn’t too happy with the results: “I haven’t been able to race as well as I would have liked to. Hoping that’s being saved for one fine day in Kona Hawaii on October 10th.”

(Photo: Rinny on the Kona 2014 marathon. Credit: Jay Prasuhn)

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