Ironman Worlds: “I only learnt to swim at 24, but I did cycle 60km to school every day,” says new Ironman world champion Laura Philipp
It was a German triumph in Nice for the 37-year-old swim, bike and run star who who was a late-starter in triathlon
“I’m super tired but definitely the happiest person on Planet Earth right now,” said Laura Philipp, after delivering a sublime triathlon exhibition on the Cote D’Azur to win her first Ironman world title.
“I never thought that this could happen,” she added. “But, of course, I had this secret dream of becoming Ironman world champion on this most beautiful and brutal course in Nice.”
While plenty of triathletes have dreamt of becoming Ironman world champion, the ones that have come to fruition have usually started a lot earlier in life.
“I have no background in swim, bike or run,” Philipp continued. “The only sport I did when I was younger was rock climbing, but I cycled to school because it was faster than public transport and that was 60km every day, so I did do a bit of base training there.
“I was inspired by some friends doing a triathlon relay, and to try a triathlon I had to learn how to swim when I was 24. It was tough and took me quite a while to swim freestyle more than 50m without stopping. Looking back, I should have just taken on a swim class to learn the technique but I simply hadn’t been in touch with the sport, so I didn’t have the people who could advise.
Philipp was offered some training advice from now coach and husband Philipp Seipp, a relationship that blossomed both in and out of sport.
“I said: ‘Ok, let’s do it,’ and he was the first person working with me on technique on swim, bike and run. Now, sitting here as the Ironman world champion makes me so proud of our small team. I know all the work they put in and we don’t take this for granted. Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves about how far we’ve come.”
Just how far Philipp has come equates to six Ironman titles, 19 half-distance victories, and a third place at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii last year. While injuries forced Daniela Ryf to announced her early retirement and Lucy Charles-Barclay to withdraw on the eve of the event, and Anne Haug saw her day ruined through an early puncture, Philipp’s 53:16 swim, 5:02:25 bike and 2:44:59 run for a combined 8:44:59 would have given any of the former champions a run for their money.
The one-two with Matthews also marked the next chapter in a blossoming rivalry between two well-matched athletes who tussled for third and fourth, with Matthews just getting the edge, in London T100 in July.
“She is very tactical and this is something i’m not really used to,” Philipp added. “I thought that at some point I need to try to get rid of her or at least gap her a little bit to just do my thing.”
Philipp finished second to Haug in Challenge Roth in July with a time half-an-hour quicker, but on the challenging 8,000ft plus bike course of Nice, this was a step up again: a career-defining performance?
“I guess so, yes,” she added. “I was struggling towards the end of the run but I guess that’s normal. People were telling me that now it counts and this is the price you have to pay if you want to be Ironman world champion. I constantly told myself it has to really hurt and I had to earn it. I’m really proud that I had to dig deep and finish strong.
“I feel in a way I deserve this title because I worked extremely hard for it and have many people who have invested in me. I came into the sport so late, learning how to swim at 24, and I just think it’s nothing that I actually saw coming, but still the secret dream.
Tim Heming
Freelance triathlon journalist 
