Triathlete Laura Philipp is even open to moving away from the traditional World Cup location of Hawaii in the spirit of a reunification of men’s and women’s competitions.
“I wouldn’t mind at all if Ironman would move the World Cup around the world,” the 36-year-old told SID: “If we keep getting new locations that make it possible for men and women to start together on two different race days. “
For the first time this year, the Ironman World Championships were separated by location. While the men awarded their medals in Nice at the beginning of September, the women will start alone in Hawaii for the first time on Saturday (6.25 p.m./HR and sportschau.de). Due to delays in the corona pandemic, too many start slots for the World Cup had recently accumulated, so Kailua-Kona asked for the races to be separated in time and space.
“My wish for the future would be that we keep our own race day, but be at a common location with the men,” emphasized Philipp. That’s “a bit of the spirit in our triathlon community, that we do it together. There are so many couples who do the sport together. It becomes difficult for them to accompany each other.”
Without the men it feels “weird” in Hawaii. But she is looking forward to “that we will get full focus. I hope that the media attention will not be diminished,” said Philipp: “We women have a field at the start to show an exciting race.”