"I am very disappointed"

Daniela Ryf finishes the Ironman World Championship 2022 in Kona in eight place. "Of course, this is not the result I was hoping for," said the five-time long-distance world champion after her race. "I’ve prepared well, always felt good during my time here and wanted to win. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out today. I gave it all I had and that’s all I can really ask of myself.”  

After a less than ideal start into the swimming leg, Daniela exited the water seven minutes behind leader Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR). On the 180-kilometer bike course, she then closed the gap to the leaders as the race progressed but realized that the race wasn’t really going according to plan. "I rode in groups for quite some time and increasingly began to sense that I would have to step it up a notch if I wanted to prevail today. However, despite the good preparation in Maui, I struggled with the high humidity and had problems breathing." As a result, Ryf continued to have a rough go of it during the rest of the bike course, even though she did manage to catch up with race’s leaders before getting off the bike with a 20-second lead over Charles-Barclay.

In the transition area, the Solothurn native tried to cool herself down a bit, but to no avail. "It didn’t work but, but that’s almost to be expected when you’re in Kona.”  Consequently, it didn’t take long for her struggles to return in the marathon, and it was around the 15 kilometer mark that it became apparent that today’s race wasn’t going to be one that Ryf could win. "I will go back to the drawing board and analyze what happened today in the days to come. It’s a pity it didn’t work out and I will definitely need a little time to digest the events of today.”

At the finish line, Daniela was embraced by second-place finisher Lucy Charles-Barclay. "I think it's very nice that we also support each other. In addition, I want to congratulate winner Chelsea Sodaro (USA). She became a mother just over a year ago and put in an incredible performance today."

Behind Sodaro (8:33:46) and Charles-Barclay (8:41:37), Anne Haug of Germany came in in third place (8:42:22). Daniela Ryf finished in eight place with a time of 9:02:26 hours.