Performance of the Year: Naeth Nails Texas

A year ago she missed qualifying for Kona by one spot. This year she guaranteed her trip to the Ironman World Championship with a sub-9 effort at the Ironman North American Championship in the Woodlands, Texas.

2014 was a numbers game for Angela Naeth, who fell just a few points shy of getting to the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Instead she found herself in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she took the win in just her third Ironman. Fast forward seven months to The Woodlands, Texas, where Naeth was taking on some of the best in the world. A win would nail her that spot to Kona, but with 2012 Kona champ Leanda Cave and two-time Kona runner-up Rachel Joyce in the field, that would be a tough task.

After trailing the two Kona stars by over six minutes out of the water, Naeth blazed to the front of the race thanks to her signature fast bike split. Through the first five miles of the run Naeth and Cave ran shoulder to shoulder before the Prince George, B.C. native pulled away and ran her way to a three-minute win.

Naeth’s great race got her that Kona spot, where she shined with a great swim and one of the day’s fastest bike splits, but had to pull out of the race before the run due to a foot injury.

She’ll be back to Kona, though – of that there’s no doubt, thanks to races like the one she had in Texas last May.