As expected, Laura Philipp has to catch up for her dream of the title at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.
The 38-year-old fell behind in her weakest discipline, swimming, and was 26th after the 3.8 kilometers at Kailua Pier, around six and a half minutes behind the clear leader Lucy Charles-Barclay.
In her triumph last year in Nice, she came out of the water a good four minutes behind, but former competitive swimmer Charles-Barclay was missing due to injury.
Philipp got on the bike together with a few other main competitors like Katrina Matthews, forming an extremely strong and large chasing group for the 180 kilometers and the subsequent running marathon.
The Heidelberg native only learned freestyle swimming when she was an adult, so she is usually one of the weakest in the first discipline in the professional field. Her strengths lie in cycling and running.
The swimming gap towards the front seems to be catchable. After two fourth places and a bronze medal, this time in Hawaii she is aiming for the really big coup that she achieved in Nice last year.
“Defending my title is my big goal and my big dream,” she told the SID in advance. She strives “for the highest” and wants to finally “stand at the top” in the Ironman Mecca on her fourth attempt.