Taylor Knibb “hoping to race” in Kona
American star is on the start list for the Ironman World Championship
Photo by:
PTO
We’ll just make this a regular Thursday update until the Ironman World Championship takes place on October 14th, shall we? Last week we posted a story wondering if Taylor Knibb would be on the start line in Kona. She’s earned a spot thanks to her win at last year’s Ironman 70.3 World Championship in St. George, but, since she’s gearing up for the Olympics next year, we figured she probably wouldn’t be on the start line on the Big Island this year.
Knibb is not racing at this weekend’s World Triathlon Championship Finals. In an interview a few weeks ago with the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO), Knibb was, well, let’s just go with “vague” about the fall plans:
“I don’t fully know because I’m just taking it each day as it comes,” she told the PTO’s Anthony Scammell. “August was a big month for me. The Olympic qualification was a focus, so was 70.3 worlds. So there are things that I kind of want to do, but realizing that Paris is next year, I need to make sure I’m in a good enough position to do those things or not. I could be done tomorrow with my season…I could have another two months left because I want to go to the Pan Am games in November…and what happens in between there I’m not sure. You can look at a month and then you see the highs and with the highs come little lows and there’s a lull for me right now. So I’m not sure, which is not the answer you want, but I’m figuring things out.”
We reached out to Knibb to get some clarification on her plans, and it turns out she is hoping to compete in Kona next month, but hasn’t officially made the call as to whether she’ll be on the start line or not.
“I’m hoping to race if I can,” she said. “I have some pretty high standards – mostly medical – that I need to pass from my team before I can.”
Knibb’s “team” of coaches and therapists have been doing an impressive job so far, so it’s good that the American is putting her faith in them. So far in 2023 she’s recovered from foot surgery and gone on to qualify for the Olympics and defend her 70.3 world title.
So, for know, we know that Knibb’s name will remain on the start list for the Ironman World Championship. Now we have to wait and see if we’ll actually get to see her race there this year.
