It’s starting to become quite a painful situation for the Ironman World Championships that will take place in St. George in two weeks, as one top athlete after another cancels race plans. Today it’s the turn of Javier Gomez Noya, who to his great disappointment tested COVID-positive and thus will not be racing.
Earlier, other athletes also indicated that they will not race, of which Patrick Lange and certainly Jan Frodeno were probably the biggest favorites for the world title. For Gomez Noya, the disappointment of not being able to race is huge.
“Today I should already be in St George, that was the plan. However, the reality is quite different and unfortunately I’m in bed at the moment, with COVID. I managed to dodge the virus for two years but it eventually caught me. And even though I’m fully vaccinated, it’s hitting me quite hard, with high temperature, headache, sore throat, achy muscles…”
“So in this situation, racing at the Ironman World Championships in two weeks wouldn’t be either realistic or responsible. I’m really gutted, as I had trained really well for months, away from home and putting all my effort to show my best version as a long distance athlete in St George. I’m surprised with what I was able to do on training, but it looks like that racing is going to have to wait. Now I have to focus on recovery and then reset goals. Luckily there’s another World Championship in October and I hope to be able to race another big Ironman in the summer. I’ll update you with my racing plans as soon as possible. Thanks for your support.”
