“I am doing really good,” Laura Philipp, the reigning Ironman World Champion, said in her recent interview with the legendary Bob Babbitt. “I am currently in my preparation camp at Maui. So pretty close to the Big Island already. So far everything has been good and it’s amazing and exciting to be back here in Hawaii.”
With her current focus squarely on the Big Island, Philipp reflected on her year so far, her path to the top of the sport, and her mindset heading into the biggest race of the year.
A Performance for the Ages in Hamburg
Philipp’s 2025 season has been spotless, highlighted by a ferocious duel at Ironman Hamburg, where she clocked a 54:40 swim, 4:23:38 bike, and 2:38:27 marathon to win in 8:03:13. It was the fastest Ironman performance ever recorded in the history of the sport – and a day she describes as both a physical and a mental test.
“I felt like during the whole eight hours I never really exhaled,” she said. “It was so much tension and I just had to be so concentrated. When you’re in this kind of concentrated flow state and you just focus on the effort and not making any mistakes, it’s super intense. I’m thankful I got to experience something like this because I think this is probably what female racing will look like more in the future.”
Beyond the splits and accolades, Hamburg reinforced one of her core philosophies – race by feel.
“I did a lot by feel,” Philipp shared. “I didn’t really look at my watch during the run. When I decided to make a move on Kat, it was my gut telling me now is the moment. That is what really counts at a World Championship race.”
From Physio to Full-Time Professional
Reflecting on her rise in the sport, Philipp noted that a major turning point was in 2016 when she left her job as a physiotherapist to go all in on performance. While a leap of faith at the time, the decision has clearly paid off.
“I decided to step down from working as a physiotherapist and really focus on the training, the recovery, and also just trying to build a team around me so I could really focus on the sport,” she said. “We made some mistakes along the way but we tried to learn from them… The first professional wins were defining because they showed me that I have the potential to win. Having achieved my biggest sporting dream last year by becoming World Champion was the most emotional win of my career and something I will never take for granted.”
Respect for the Island and a Realistic Plan
With wins in Hamburg, Roth, and last year’s Ironman World Championship in Nice, Philipp arrives in Kona with momentum. But she’s quick to point out that Kona is a different beast.
“Kona is a very different course, [with] very different climate conditions. And it is the World Championships,” she said. “The person who wants to win really needs to risk something at a point. There’s no holding back to play it safe. Training here now, it’s a very fine line between being able to hold a certain pace or overdoing it and overheating. In Kona it will come down to having a really good feeling for your body.”
Strategy modelling will help guide Philipp’s approach, but she knows the race will likely be won on the run.
“I will not be out of the water in the front,” she said. “It will be a question of how big that deficit is and that will define how I try to race on the bike. At the end, the race will be decided on the run. You need to be able to run a strong last 10km.”
A Deep Field and a Defining Opportunity
The 2025 women’s field is one of the deepest ever assembled, with multiple former World Champions and proven contenders all eyeing the podium and the top step.
“The field is very interesting this year,” Philipp said. “We have three athletes who already won the World Championships, so they have the confidence that they know they can do it. I feel like I have nothing to lose. I have something additional to win, but nothing to lose. It gives a little bit of freedom. Having achieved that in your career takes away some pressure.”
Still, Philipp notes: “To win on a different course would really mean a lot. It would be another really big milestone in my career.”
The post From Maui Camp to the Kona Pier: Laura Philipp’s Mindset Heading into the Ironman World Championship appeared first on Triathlon Magazine Canada.