<\/p>
\u201cIt felt a bit like a curse, and I felt a bit guilty,\u201d confessed Germany\u2019s Laura Philipp<\/a> as she returned to Hawaii\u2019s Big Island as one of the pre-race favourites to win the Ironman World Championship.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIn 2019, I took a lava stone back home and then found out that you can\u2019t take anything from the island or the island gods are really mad with you.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to look at this stone for three years as I kept hoping the race would be on so I could bring it back. It was the item I made sure I definitely packed in my bag before we left.\u201d<\/p>\n Pele\u2019s Curse is the belief that anything natively Hawaiian, such as sand or rock, will bring bad luck on whoever takes it away from Hawaii. Madame Pele is the goddess of volcanoes and fire, and the creator of the Hawaiian Islands.<\/p>\n But whether myth or otherwise, when Philipp next had the chance to compete at the Ironman World Championship \u2013 in May in St George \u2013 she was stricken with Covid and had to withdraw on the eve of the race.<\/p>\n Almost five months on, the 35-year-old German and PTO-ranked No 5 doesn\u2019t want to take any chances as she attempts to improve from her fourth place here on debut in 2019<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cI gave it back to the gods of Hawaii and hopefully they won\u2019t be mad with me any more and I\u2019ll have all the luck for race day,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Looking at Philipp\u2019s results to date, it doesn\u2019t appear she\u2019ll need much luck.<\/p>\n The Hoffenhem-based star has won four of the five Ironmans she\u2019s started, recording some of the fastest times in the sport\u2019s history along the way.<\/p>\n These included the fastest Ironman debut of 8:34:57 in Barcelona in 2018 and most recently an Ironman branded world best of 8:18:20 in Hamburg<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 just 7secs behind Chrissie Wellington\u2019s fastest ever over the distance.<\/p>\n Whether the form will be enough to challenge five-time Ironman champion Daniela Ryf<\/a><\/strong> or the victor from last time on the Big Island, Anne Haug<\/a><\/strong>, on Thursday remains to be seen, but Philipp is confident.<\/p>\n \u201cCompared to 2019 it has been a completely different build-up. I\u2019m healthy and that\u2019s most important for me because it\u2019s stopped me in the past several times. It makes me look forward more to the race than I did in 2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve no fear. It\u2019s pure excitement, and I\u2019m super grateful to get the opportunity to race on Thursday. No matter the outcome, I\u2019m ready to give everything.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all expect Lucy Charles-Barclay<\/a><\/strong> to be in front after the swim, Daniela to go hard on the bike as other athletes, including myself, find their position in the race. I will have to be very patient and chase whoever is in the front for a long time.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there are around five girls who can win and even to make it on to the podium will be very tough.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Daniela, Lucy, Anna, and myself there\u2019s already one missing the podium. But there\u2019s also someone like Chelsea Sodaro<\/a><\/strong>, who I raced in Hamburg and saw how strong she was. The best strategy is to stay in the moment and make smart decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Top image credit:<\/strong> Joern Pollex\/Getty Images for Ironman<\/p>\n By Tim Heming Published: Tuesday, 04 October 2022 at 12:00 am \u201cIt felt a bit like a curse, and I felt a bit guilty,\u201d confessed Germany\u2019s Laura Philipp as she returned to Hawaii\u2019s Big Island as one of the pre-race favourites to win the Ironman World Championship. \u201cIn 2019, I took a lava stone back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":17951,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/laura-philipp-praying-hawaiian-gods-arent-out-for-revenge.jpg",1500,1000,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/laura-philipp-praying-hawaiian-gods-arent-out-for-revenge-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/laura-philipp-praying-hawaiian-gods-arent-out-for-revenge-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/laura-philipp-praying-hawaiian-gods-arent-out-for-revenge-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/laura-philipp-praying-hawaiian-gods-arent-out-for-revenge-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/laura-philipp-praying-hawaiian-gods-arent-out-for-revenge.jpg",1500,1000,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/laura-philipp-praying-hawaiian-gods-arent-out-for-revenge.jpg",1500,1000,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Tim Heming Published: Tuesday, 04 October 2022 at 12:00 am \u201cIt felt a bit like a curse, and I felt a bit guilty,\u201d confessed Germany\u2019s Laura Philipp as she returned to Hawaii\u2019s Big Island as one of the pre-race favourites to win the Ironman World Championship. \u201cIn 2019, I took a lava stone back…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/17950"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u201cI\u2019m ready to give everything\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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