Add another favourite to the absentee list for Ibiza
Germany's Laura Philipp withdraws due to illness
Photo by: Ironman Europe InstagramLaura Philipp, the winner of the Ironman African Championship earlier this year (pictured above) and one of the pre-race favourites for this weekend’s Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) European Open in Ibiza, has pulled out of Saturday’s race.
While not as well-known in North America, Philipp has an impressive resume that includes the second-fastest full-distance time ever – she missed Chrissie Wellington’s world-best by just seven seconds with her 8:18:20 finish at Ironman Hamburg last year.
Philipp sets new Ironman record to take European Championship in Hamburg
Philipp has finished fourth at the Ironman World Championship twice (2019 and 2022), and has racked up wins at all the other Ironman races she’s competed in including Barcelona, Finland, Austria along with the wins in Hamburg and South Africa.
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In an Instagram post, the German star said that she was out of the race because “Sickness has left a big crater in my fitness and it will take longer than hoped until I’m back at it!”
“I waited until last minute to make the decision to race Ibiza or not, because i wanted to try everything possible to turn things around because i deeply care about racing and representing my partners at the big races!” she continued. “Unfortunately racing against the best in the world at a highspeed distance makes no sense for me at the moment!”
After winning the African championship, Philipp came down with a virus. She thought she was back on track, then managed to get a bacterial infection that sidelined her, as well.
“That cost a lot of fitness and a lot of training time,” she said.
During a successful training camp in St. Moritz, Philipp got a stomach bug, and lost about three kg.
“So we decided to cut the camp short and leave high altitude,” she said. “It is never good when things don’t go according to plan. There’s not much more that I can do other than accept it and do the homework that needs to be done to get back to fitness and health.”