Unfortunately, the list of withdrawals for the Ironman World Championship in St. George keeps expanding, with Carolin Lehrieder being the latest addition. The German athlete has to miss out on the action due to a COVID-19 infection. “It’s breaking my heart to write this, and I still can’t believe it’s real, but I won’t race on Saturday”, she announced.
“After managing to avoid COVID-19 for 2.5 years, it eventually caught me with the worst timing ever”, Lehrieder continues. “Words can’t describe how I feel right now, but I know for sure that going into an Ironman you should be 100 percent healthy. This race, the sport in general, means a lot to me – it’s what defines me, and it’s what I work for every day, but it’s still not worth risking my health and future in the sport. Thank you so much for your ongoing support, it means a lot. Promise to be back.”
With Lucy Charles and Laura Philipp also missing this important race, the women’s start list further shrunk, now counting only 23 names.
