Neither the organization nor the athletes are to blame, but after several cancellations, Laura Philipp will not be starting this Saturday at the World Championships Ironman in St. George. The German European Champion has tested positive for COVID.
She had been ill for several days and then the dreaded news came; a COVID infection will ruin Philipp’s participation in the World Championships. Earlier, Lucy Charles, Jan Frodeno, Patrick Lange, Joe Skipper and Javier Gomez, among others, announced that they would not race. Philipp speaks of a “nightmare”.
In the women’s race there are only 24 professional athletes at the start; this is a stark contrast to the numbers that are normally achieved at Kona.
