Osteopath Gunter Knockaert grabs hard. He pushes, he feels, he pulls. First on the back, then on the neck and back of the head and finally on the hips. For laypeople, the jerky movements sometimes look frightening, but for Knockaert’s patient, the application is just right. “I have to put my joints on top of each other like a little tower”says triathlete Anne Haug afterwards at the sports show microphone. “So that the body is ready for the race.”
The race, by which Haug means the Ironman World Championships next Saturday (May 7th, 2022). While the 39-year-old is being adjusted on a treatment couch in a rented apartment, a photo on the wall indicates that the WM exceptionally at a different location than usual.
This time namely the red sandstone mountains around St. George in the U.S-State of Utah Set for the most important and prestigious competition in triathlon. The event is scheduled to return to Hawaii, where the Ironman World Championship normally takes place, in October.
Haug before the Ironman World Championship: “Excitement and nervousness are great”
“Excitement and nervousness are very big”, Haug admits without hesitation. “Such big races are just something different. And the last world championship felt like in the last century”, she says laughing. Because of the corona pandemic, the 2020 edition was completely canceled, the 2021 edition will now be made up for in St. George. When the women’s professional race starts there on Saturday morning at 6:20 a.m. local time (2:20 p.m. CEST in the sports show live stream), Haug will be at the starting line as the defending champion. In 2019, at the last Ironman World Championship so far, she was crowned world champion. As the first German ever.
“Having to carry the burden for three years was blatant – because you never had the chance to defend it.”says the athlete from Bayreuth. “A lot can happen in three years, it will be a super uncertain thing for everyone. Maybe a few athletes will come up who weren’t even on the radar yet, who were able to prepare really well under the guise of the corona pandemic. “
A lot has happened in her sport in recent years: “Ever faster, ever higher, ever further. If you stop, you’re just not good enough anymore.”
Ironman in Utah will be different than in Hawaii
Haug, who since winning the 2019 World Cup also won the shortened Challenge Roth last September, still has big plans for the competition in Utah: “I would be lying if I said I’m not hoping for a podium – that’s what I’m here for. I’m a professional and I want to get on the podium. But you can’t influence the outcome, so I just wish that I could call on my performance .”
On the distance of 3.8 kilometers of swimming, 180 kilometers of cycling and the final marathon, running is her greatest strength. In Hawaii, she completed the 42.195 kilometers three years ago in a time of 2:51:07 hours. A benchmark for St. George? Rather not.
The marathon route is hillier than that in Hawaii, almost mountainous. In general, there are hardly any similarities, only the climatic conditions will be different. Also because the swim takes place in a lake and not in the open sea of the Central Pacific, Haug expects a completely new racing dynamic from the start. Her plan: not much later than top swimmer Lisa Norden (Sweden) to get out of the water, listen carefully to her own body on the selective bike course – to then have enough grains while running.
Ryf could become world champion for the fifth time
Haug counts the four-time world champion Daniela Ryf from Switzerland and Katrina Matthews from Great Britain among the strongest competitors in the battle for the top spots. Laura Philipp from Heidelberg, who also had good chances of winning a medal, did not travel to the USA because of a corona infection.
In addition to Haug, two other Germans are on the starting list with Laura Zimmermann (Marktoberdorf) and Carolin Lehrieder (Würzburg). The defending champion doesn’t believe that there will be time for the beautiful landscape with all the red sandstone mountains in St. George: “In a race like this you have to stay concentrated and focused, you can’t make any mistakes.” At least Anne Haug’s body is definitely ready. The osteopath made sure of that.