Kona Coverage: Els Visser rides 35 km with one leg to earn the day’s final paycheck
She survived a shipwreck before becoming a pro triathlete. Does it come as a surprise that a broken pedal wouldn't stop her?
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
When you’ve survived a shipwreck (read her amazing story below) you likely arrive at most races with a remarkably healthy perspective. That’s not to say Els Visser isn’t a fierce competitor – the 33-year-old from the Netherlands won Ironman New Zealand earlier this year and took the European Long Distance Championship in Almere last month.
On Saturday Visser was in the midst of an impressive day at the Ironman World Championship – she was 23rd out of the water and powered through the women ahead to put herself amongst the top women chasing front-runner Lucy Charles-Barclay.
At one point Visser made a huge move on the bike, passing a large string of athletes ahead. (Riders aren’t allowed to “slot in” part way through a group, so if you do make a pass you need to move through the entire line of riders ahead.) The live coverage of the race managed to capture Visser’s big move, as can be seen below.
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That huge move got Visser up to sixth place up the climb to Hawi, and eventually she would find herself riding with eventual runner-up, Anne Haug, when her pedal broke.
Visser completed the final 35 km of the bike pedalling with just her right leg, then managed a 3:14 marathon to finish the race in 8:59:16, the 15th of 16 women who broke the nine-hour barrier.
“Played strong all day and dealt with the cards I got,” Visser would post on Instagram after the race. “After a good swim I cut through the field on the bike and was in the middle of the game. With 35k to go on the bike my left bike pedal came off. I couldn’t do anything and had to make my way into transition with just my right leg. Mentally not easy to digest, but I tried to stay positive starting the marathon. I made my way to the finish in 08.59.16, a 15th place. I’m proud on how I executed today and my achievement.”
As she should be.
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