The 35-year-old from Solothurn has to settle for eighth at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.
5 months after her last Ironman World Championship win in St. George, Utah, Daniela Reeve missed her sixth win in Hawaii. Although the 35-year-old pioneered the running track, she was unable to defend her position in the marathon.
On Reeve wins in Hawaii in the years 2015 to 2018, after a dominant performance on the bike, she was still able to complete a marathon in the best-running area. This is no longer the case this time. She had to work her way up, compared to the same place in 2019, when she was ranked 13th due to poor health.
I felt constantly overheated and had trouble breathing.
In the end, Reeve was disappointed: ‘I had a good preparation and felt really good in the morning. I didn’t really have the legs I wish I had on a bike.” The weather conditions were a big problem. “The humidity caused me great difficulties, and I constantly felt overheated and had trouble breathing. I can’t really explain it because I was so acclimatized and prepared.”
Catch up on a bike is not rewarding
Reeve had taken the lead from Lucy Charles Barkley with just under 7km in the leg of the bike and started the run 17 seconds ahead of the Briton. Charles Barkley then made a save in the first kilometer and quickly sped away from Reeve clearly.
Already in the opening discipline, Daniela Reeve was just short of her comeback. After the 3.86-kilometre swim, I came out of the water behind Charles Barkley in 14th place by about 7 minutes. The race to catch up on cycling must have cost Reeve a lot of energy.
With Joanna Reiter, there was a second Swiss in the beginning. The 28-year-old from Neuchâtel ranked 30th.
Sudaru was surprised
When the Ironman World Championships returned to the Big Island three years later, there was a surprising winner. Chelsea Sudaro (33), making her Ironman World Championship debut, triumphed with a strong marathon of 2:51:45 hours against Charles Barkley and Germany’s Anne Hogg, the 2019 winner. Sudaro only competed in the second Ironman of her career.
It is the first American victory for women in more than two and a half decades. Four-time Ironman World Champion Chrissy Wellington (2007) of Great Britain triumphed as the latest newcomer to Hawaii.
The men’s race will take place with Jan van Berkel as the only Swiss hope on Sunday evening Swiss time.
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