World Championship Sprint Triathlon in Hamburg Germany July 14 2023

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It is a big undertaking to go to a world championship overseas, and I am not only talking about the training and sport performance. That is the part I can, and do, control. It is everything else; flights, bike transports, getting the right information, food choices in unfamiliar settings etc. This is the third time I am in a triathlon world championship, and it is following a familiar pattern of chaos and panic.


 

I got caught in a massive flight delay and had to wait in an airport for over 24 hours. After standing in a line for over 4 and a half hours in the middle of the night, I got another flight the next day, and I went to a hotel to rest. Most hotels were booked so I took what I could get. The hotel had no food. Lack of sleep, lack of food and on my feet for too long is not a good prelude to a big race. It is what it is. I flew early and recovered in time.

I got my luggage and bicycle undamaged and on time, many did not. This has happened on every world championship. To make things really stressful, activists shut down Hamburg airport the day before the race. For many, the travel resulted in borrowed bikes and gear, broken bikes, last minute shopping, and even no race at all. It says itself that it is not what you want. Go early and plan for trouble.

So, now to my race. It was hard to get the right information, probably due to information overload, and it was hard to get an overview of the race area and course. I had an afternoon start and the morning of the race, I managed to check out transition and turn around points as everything was set up. That was a big help.

Swim was in water and the group was large. The older women are ferocious, I was kicked and pulled at without mercy most of the way. My swim was disturbed, and the time shows it, I was way behind the best.

T1 was very long, and I caught up about three places just by running fast. I think my bike leg went ok, I did manage to draft a bit, but not as much as I would have liked. It was a fairly flat course, and I did the turn around fine due to my previous reconnaissance. 

T2 was equally long, and I felt good running using my new "super shoes" (an approved model). I slowly closed the gap and passed people one by one, and I don't think anyone at all passed me. I used my energy well and had a good pace and gave it all the last half mile finishing totally exhausted at 15th place!

It was fun, it really was fun.





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