Anne Haug: “The Unbreakable Will Power Isn’t There Any More”

Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Earlier this week we reported that Germany’s Anne Haug was calling it a career (see below) after pulling out of IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz a few weeks ago. I reached out to Haug when I got the news, but my message was buried in the deluge of responses she got after the announcement. When she reached out to me yesterday, I jumped at the opportunity to do a follow up interview.

Haug has always been direct and honest in any interview I’ve done with her. Earlier this year I spent some time with her in Lanzarote (see link below) and I was amazed to learn just how far she had managed to push herself to become a world champion, the fastest women ever over the full distance, and much more.

Kevin Mackinnon interviews the pro panel at the 2024 IRONMAN Lanzarote press conference. Photo: Club La Santa IRONMAN Lanzarote

Haug and her long-time coach Dan Lorang were at sports science school together when they took part in a triathlon course. Fast forward a few years and Lorang had become her coach and was guiding her to an incredible career that included two Olympic Games appearances, world championship medals, and all the long-course success.

Haug’s honesty in today’s interview really highlighted the challenges elite athletes face as they come to the end of their careers. It also serves as an excellent display of Haug’s modesty and single-minded approach to training and racing that enabled her to excel. (Although I’m not buying any suggestion that she’s not a “talented” athlete.) Here’s the transcript of our conversation, which I’ve edited slightly for clarity.

Slowtwitch.com: Hey, how is it going Anne? I guess it’s been an emotional few days for you.

Anne Haug: Yeah, it was quite unbelievable how many messages came in. I didn’t expect that, so it was crazy. 

I’m surprised that you’re surprised that there were so many responses. Why didn’t you think that people would be react so much to hearing this news? 

I always did sport because I like to be the best I could be, and if you’re not the best anymore and you don’t feel like it, you think, okay, you can just disappear. But people recognize that and it was kind of overwhelming how many people took notice, or are interested in, your career. I mean, I’m a normal person, so you’re quite overwhelmed by all these messages and feedback. 

It sounds like you knew as soon as you were struggling during the race at IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz that you were done. What made you so sure that it was time to call it a career?

I mean, I would never call myself a talented athlete. I taught myself to swim when I was 20, and I worked so hard to get into the sport. So, I think what made me so successful over the 20 years was my unbreakable willpower. And in this race (IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz), for the first time in 20 years, I was feeling that I can’t even imagine how to run this IRONMAN. I just don’t have this crazy willpower to push myself through, and that was just such a shocking feeling. The day I always feared the most in training, because every day you have to push your limits and go so hard to improve, I was always afraid that one day I can’t do that anymore. My will will just break. And … I knew when that happens, that means my time is over because that’s what made me successful. And in this race, I knew I couldn’t even imagine how to run the marathon. I could not even imagine how to walk it. 

And then I knew if I made the decision to drop out – I’ve never done that in my life if I have no reason for it. So I knew, okay, something has broken in your head which is not fixable, and that’s the end of your career. That was a rule I gave to myself and I always like to stick to rules. It’s a sign. 

So the decision was already quite clear in the race, and after the race I talked to Dan (Lorang – her long-time coach). He said “Look, there are a lot of reasons why you couldn’t (keep going) … the last two years were just a big struggle.” But, for me, it was so clear … I gave myself a few days, but it didn’t change my decision. 

After I wrote the first story on your retirement, there were some comments that you knew exactly what you were going to be moving on to. I replied saying that I’m not sure that she does. I remember you saying to me in March that “triathlon just came to me and whatever’s next is going to just come to me.” Is that the way you’re feeling now?  

Exactly. I always followed ‘plan A’ in my career, and it was always my aim to have full focus on what I’m doing right now. I’d never planned to be a professional athlete. It came to me, the door opened and I jumped in through it. I have a lot of faith and confidence that something else will pop up. But I have no idea and I just have to see … what opportunities appear. 

I’m open for everything and I’m not worried that something great will come next, but I have absolutely no idea what that will be.

Haug wins the IRONMAN World Championship in 2019. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

We chatted about this in March, but is there something you’re most proud of in your career?

I think the most proud of is my maybe not perfect short course career, because I never went the easy way. I always wanted to go the hard way. Even though I knew I had to teach myself to swim and it would have been so much easier just choose long course straight from the beginning like everyone was telling me (to do). Everyone said I was crazy to try short course racing and that my goal was to qualify for the Olympic Games because I was just so untalented in terms of swimming. I wanted it so much and I thought I will just give it my absolute very best and then I would have nothing to regret. To make it to two Olympic Games and have three world championship medals just proves that you can achieve a lot of things just with will power and dedication and work. I think maybe my career is not perfect in that sense because I’ve never won an Olympic medal, but to get as far in a sport you’re not made for … it makes you really proud because I knew that was the hardest path I could take and it prepared me for my long-course career. So I would choose exactly the same path again.

Your long course career – the world championship and so many amazing performances – the only time you didn’t make the podium at the worlds was when something happened to your tire. You must be proud of that.

I mean, it’s strange because I never, ever could imagine doing a long course race, because the long stuff doesn’t come easy to my body. My body wants to go quick and fast. I have more of a Ferrari engine than a diesel engine, so I always had to force myself to go long and it was never something I dreamed of or something I would like to do. So it was just this massive challenge to prove myself and be good in something which I originally didn’t like at all. I hate long bike rides. I hate long runs, but I hated it so much that I love it. It’s kind of strange how it works, but it was always got me out of bed every day – to prove myself and see what other personal limits and how far, and how good, can you get? And that was something so interesting to me … So that I (even) had a long course career like that was absolutely crazy, because I think I reached the maximum I could have ever reached. I got a world championship medal in every color, and I have a world record.

I’m guessing it has been really emotional and very difficult over the last couple of weeks. I’m guessing you would have loved to have had a great day in Vitoria-Gasteiz. But, can you say “hey, I’ve had a great career – there really wasn’t a whole lot more for me to prove, so this isn’t such a bad time for me to call it career?” 

I always promised myself I would listen to my own little voice. I always listen to my gut feeling, no matter what everyone else said. I think it’s my own personal feeling, and I always trust that no matter what everyone else said. The time has come and that’s it. So, I’m not romantic about that. Of course, everyone always wants to finish on an absolute high, but from an athlete’s perspective, I can say, no one wants to finish when you’re on a high, because then you’re saying there’s much more, and you always want more. 

That’s just the nature of an athlete. So it’s always the fairy tale, everyone else projects on you that it’s worth finishing on a high. For me, at least, it’s all about performance. And if the performance is not there, you don’t believe you can perform on the level you want to perform and to your own your own expectations, then it’s time for me to go, no matter if I win or lose … You always want to achieve the max – the most that you can achieve out of your body. And that was just impossible anymore, and I’m absolutely fine with that.

Haug on her way to breaking Paula Newby-Fraser’s course record at IRONMAN Lanzarote in 2024. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

I also got the feeling, chatting with you in March, that you seem to be in such a great place. Still struggling with health issues, but you seem like you’re in a really solid, great relationship. You love being in Lanzarote and having your space. It just seemed like you’re in a really good space right now. Does that also make it a little more possible to say “I don’t need to have triathlon. I don’t need to be doing this crazy amount of training and everything every day. I can be happy doing other things?”

I mean, my life has changed so much for the better. With my new partner and we adopted a little dog and Lanzarote is just the place I love. Club La Santa – it’s my dream destination and my training paradise – that will never change. I’m just so happy here and I always want to believe that everything in life happens for a reason. I had an absolutely amazing 20 years, half of my life in high performance sport, and I always knew high performance sport is something really special and I think I took the most out of it for 20 years and had an amazing career. Now it’s time for something new, and I don’t look back with any regrets. 

What was the conversation like with Dan? He’s been there for you, literally, from the start. I’m guessing it must have been emotional, but based on your relationship, hopefully not a difficult conversation. 

Not at all. I mean, Dan is maybe the person who knows me the absolute best. And he knows exactly that I always make my decisions from my gut feeling. He knows if I take a decision, that’s it, and he completely understands and is absolute supportive. 

I mean, Dan is just the best person I know. And yeah, he’s always supported my whole career and we shared the last 20 years together. We started as good friends and we changed to a coach/ athlete relationship, and hopefully now we change back to pure friends again. 

He’s not telling me what to do every day, which is what he did for the last half of my life. He completely understands and works with so many athletes. He knew it from Jan, as well. At some point the time has come. We had a great time and its not over, its just different.

So, did you call him and say, okay, you’re not the boss of me anymore? 

(Laughs.) I called him directly after the race and he knew immediately. He’s happy for me because something else will come – life is not over. We will find time and space to give it a nice ending, but like I said, it’s not an ending. We were good friends before and we will still be good friends after. So nothing really changed. just our work relationship will be different. 

And finally, I am guessing that in your dream world you would continue to be involved in the sport.

I hope that it’ll always be be an active person and that I can find joy in moving myself and not just to perform. That will be a completely different thing for me, because I was always so ambitious and I always wanted to prove to myself how good I can be. I never did sports just for the pure fun of it. So I hope I can find the pure fun of it, and of course it’s easier if you stay somewhat involved in the sport. I had a normal life before I turned to triathlon – I had a finished my sports science studies. So maybe I’ll go in that direction. I have absolutely no idea. I will get in contact with my long-term sponsors – I have such a good relationship with them – and build a greater relationship with them. 

These are all things I have to figure out. I’m open for literally everything, because you never know what good things come in life. So I just, yeah, I’m happy and I’ll see what’s coming next. 

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