Natalie Van Coevorden- Australian Triathlete

Arriving back in Hamburg for my sixth time makes me feel somewhat like a veteran of the sport, but it also means I have plenty of experience behind me to execute the demands of a hard fast course. I have never cracked the top 20 in Hamburg and I have always been left wanting more from myself. Over the past month I have done a few races in the lead up with two local races and Antwerp World Cup where I placed fifth. Training has been consistent and I knew I had the confidence, skills and race plan behind me to get the best out of my self on the day. Having such a late start for race day is my favourite race day. The 6.40pm start time allows time for a bit of training, all the naps and chill time before its time to line up. The water was just over 20 degrees which meant no wetsuit and the air was just a little warmer. I decided I wanted to start far left to try and miss the chaos of the first can. As the better swimmers started lining up from the right I was not convinced I ha

For the past month I have split my time between home in Campbelltown, Wollongong and Canberra. Training has been building every week and I have been able to incorporate some downhill running back into my program which I found earlier in the year really worked for me. We have been working really hard behind the scenes and I came into Yokohama looking forward to being able to demonstrate that. Last year Yokohama showed I was able to perform under some tough conditions and I was confident of a good result this year. I was relaxed on race morning and I knew what I needed to do to put myself in a good position. Not racing Bermuda, my ranking had dropped to 8th but it still gave me a good choice on the pontoon to have some good swimmers around me. The swim was pretty rough and I got caught up in the mess until the second buoy turn to come back into the pontoon. I started to move around people and move up in the field. The second lap pace got even faster and I had to close a l

From one place to another, March seems a blur. I travelled home from Abu Dhabi still so happy that finally I could put together a race I have been capable of. Although the season is long with the Grand Final in September, it is pretty surreal sitting now in third place on the WTS rankings.   Thanks to everyone that sent me kind messages of support and for following my journey thus far. I had a busier week than normal post Abu Dhabi with a few media commitments and getting organised to go away for a month of racing. A good case of jet lag gave me a roller coaster sleep pattern as my body couldn’t decide what time zone it liked better.  I lined up the weekend after Abu Dhabi to race Mooloolaba World Cup. After racing it five times before, I knew what to expect. Big swell, humidity and a tough course, Mooloolaba is always a good test.   I exited the water with the main contentions and knew that would put me in a good position for the rest of the race. The bike was a bit of a

With Abu Dhabi on the horizon, I had 4 weeks of consistent training in our Woll ongong base with the knowledge of the demands that the race in Abu Dhabi would have. Building on training and confidence each week was a great starting base for the season. Doing some new sessions in our training environment in this year has lit a new spark giving me confidence back in areas that I had lost. On 16 th February I raced in Devonport Oceania Champs where I placed second after a full week of training. It was great to put processes in place under fatigue and get a full race under my belt. Race day threw everyone off guard with rain starting to fall and a colder air temperature. Abu Dhabi gets about three days of rain a year and racing on the F1 track was going to make critical moments even trickier. Before I even got to the race site, I was covered in sand, water and muck off the roads. I knew that having a good pre-race plan

Heading back to Stockholm for the fifth time I actually felt like a bit of a local.   I arrived in Stockholm calm and motivated to deliver a good to a performance on race day. After Montreal WTS I was really disappointed not being able to put a race together that showed where I am currently at, on course really suited me. I was flat from the gun and my body couldn’t handle the high power spikes. We had a few days of training easy after we got back and this gave me ample time to self-reflect and stop second guessing myself. I had a French Grand Prix in Embrun in the French Alps the next weekend and this was a good non pressure race to do the basics right. I had a good result there finishing 6 th with a solid breakaway up the climb and a win for my team Poissy Triathlon. Race day in Stockholm was slightly cold, sunny but quite windy. I stood on the pontoon surrounded by very strong swimmers including Jess Learmon