In September of this year, Germany's Laura Philipp was crowned the 2024 Vinfast IRONMAN World Champion in a thrilling race in Nice, France. Her rise to the top step of the IRONMAN World Championship podium has seen her achieve lots of success in a sport that was never even on her radar for many years, in fact she only learned how to swim when she was 24, something that has certainly not held her back from becoming a world class triathlete and one of the sport's most successful athletes.

 

Her professional career took off after taking victory at IRONMAN 70.3 in Mallorca in 2016, and since then, Laura has consistently climbed the ranks, securing  titles and podium finishes around the world.  She is a multiple IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 Champion, the 2022 Ironman European Champion, the 2023 IRONMAN African Champion and IRONMAN 70.3 European Champion, she finished in 3rd place in Kona last year and this year she achieved her dream of becoming the IRONMAN World Champion.

 

Laura shares lots of insight about many aspects of her life as an athlete from the importance of aligning her training to her menstrual cycle, to balancing her fuelling needs as a vegetarian with the demands of her training and racing schedule. With her number one supporter; her husband Philipp by her side every step of the way taking on multiple roles as husband, coach, business partner and bike mechanic to name a few, she shares some snippets into life together chasing goals and the importance of maintaining a healthy balance between professional and personal life.

 

Laura's happiness is infectious, she believes a happy athlete is a fast athlete, her enjoyment of a piece of cake every day important in ensuring she gets the balance right in life even at the highest level of sporting success. Her 'train smart, have fun and kick ass' mantra is one that we could all benefit from embracing as we each strive to pursue our own ambitions in sport and in life. 

 

This episode is packed with fun and laughter, motivation and actionable insights for athletes and fans alike. Whilst we don't go into the specifics of her World Championship victory in Nice, we do get to know Laura on a personal level and discover just some of the formula of what it takes to become an IRONMAN World Champion