Kona Check-In: What the Pro Women Are Up to on the Big Island

Marjolaine Pierré is racing Kona for the first time. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Race week is well underway here in Kona, and the pro women are gearing up for a fast day of swimming, biking and running on Saturday. Many of the top pros are quite active on social media, which gives fans of the sport an inside look at their lives in the build to the IRONMAN World Championship. Here are a few of the pro women profiles that you can access, along with what they’re talking about in the final days before hitting the race course on the Big Island.

Charles-Barclay’s Road to Kona

Lucy Charles-Barclay is back in Kona after taking home her first IRONMAN world crown here in 2023. She couldn’t defend her title in Nice, France, last year, but she has a shot to double up and become a two-time world champ in Hawaii this weekend.

Charles-Barclay has a great YouTube channel with a lot of in-depth videos that cover her racing and training. She released a lengthy video last week on her build to Kona. This video isn’t just a quick look at her final few weeks of training as she works toward the IRONMAN World Championship — it covers months of her prep for this race.

This video is a great look into her life and what it takes to operate at her level in the sport. It’s definitely worth a watch before race day.

Laura Philipp’s Maui Prep

Like Charles-Barclay, Laura Philipp is an IRONMAN world champion. She won her first world title in Nice last year and she has been in Hawaii for a while now as she prepared to defend her crown. She has a YouTube channel as well, and she released a video on her final big training block for Kona, which she completed in Maui.

Philipp also released a video of a Canyon press conference from earlier this week in Kona. The event was live streamed on her YouTube page, but it is still available to watch.

The Feed Video Series

The Feed is one of the biggest sports nutrition companies in triathlon. The company has access to multiple big names, and they have a video series featuring some of these athletes. There is an episode out on Taylor Knibb that covers her racing earlier in the season and her goals for Kona. Other episodes focus on Marjolaine Pierré (fourth in Nice last year), Skye Moench and some pro men.

These videos give inside looks at the lives of these top pros as they attempt to reach their potential at the biggest race on the IRONMAN circuit.

Jackie Hering’s Pre-Race Vlog

Jackie Hering is in Kona for the first time in 11 years, and she has released a pre-race vlog talking about her time on the Big Island so far, her final training days before the race, her race goals and more. After talking to camera and taking viewers through all of this, the video showcases some of Hering’s training and what she gets up to in Kona. This is a fun, chill vlog that’s definitely worth watching before race day.

Breakfast with Bob

Bob Babbitt is a staple of Kona and IRONMAN World Championship coverage. He is always busy during race week interviewing the top pros, retired athletes visiting the island and anyone else in the sport. He has a fun interview style that keeps things light, but he still manages to get some interesting nuggets and details from the people he speaks to. This week he has interviewed people like Chelsea Sodaro, Kat Matthews, Solveig Løvseth, Craig Alexander, Mirinda Carfrae and many, many more.

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