Kona coverage: You can’t be what you can’t see
British triathlon star Laura Siddall embraces a women’s only Ironman World Championship as a chance to promote women’s involvement in the sport
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
For four-time Ironman champion Laura Siddall, last year’s Ironman World Championship here in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii was a game-changer for women’s professional triathlon. The 2022 race featured two days of racing, with the women and some age group men racing on the Thursday, and the rest of the men competing on Saturday. That format meant the pro women’s race was truly highlighted.
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”I remember last year when we had two separate days … being on the race course and knowing that the helicopter was ahead of the lead female – which in that case was Chelsea,” she said. “The next day, on the Friday, so many people came up to me and said ‘I didn’t realize how exciting women’s racing was, because they’d never had a chance to see it before.’”
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Siddall is recovering from a terrible bike crash she was involved in at Ironman Brazil earlier this year, so it’s great that she is here on the Big Island preparing to compete. She enjoyed an excellent 2022 season that included a 10th here in Kona along with a fourth-place finish at Challenge Roth. She’s helping Ironman out doing some pre-race course videos this week as she gears up for next week’s race and is looking forward to a race week that will be focussed on women’s racing. She also feels this is a crucial way to bolster women’s participation in the sport.
”The energy and the vibe around town is going to be different – I’m looking forward to it,” she said. ”You can’t be what you can’t see … so the opportunity to get more women here, there’s so many first timers, so really bolstering the female side of the sport, telling those stories, is amazing.”
The pro race
Siddall is also impressed with the level of competition we’re going to see on race day – the sport’s best will be on the line.
“It’s ridiculous,” she said of the pro field. “There is nobody that’s not here. Yes, there are a few of the half-distance specialists, but if you talk about the full-distance athletes, anybody and everybody is here. It’s a real credit to the female athletes for getting here. The race is going to be lit. There are so many people who can win there.”
Siddall is also quite aware of just how difficult it is to take the win here on the Big Island.
“Kona does funny things for everybody,” she said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen in a full-distance and an Ironman, anyway. Add in Kona, add in the world championship, add in that start list and I think it’s going to be an incredible race.”
