The Pressure is Off for Kona Champ Solveig Løvseth, Who is Determined to Have Fun in Marbella

Catching up with recently crowned IRONMAN world champion, Solveig Løvseth, she said she was still undecided if she was going to stick with her Kona bike set up, or go for an aero road frame. 

“I feel like everyone else is saying, no, it’s definitely a TT bike course, but I just think a road bike sounds more fun,” she says. “It’s no secret that I’m a bit heavier than most of the other girls here so that doesn’t help in the hills. But I feel like I’m a strong cyclist so I can still do okay. I might still go with the TT bike and, in that case, my set up will be the same [as Kona], of course a bit less nutrition, but the road bike would just be a bit lighter and more fun, better in the hills.”

Since then, Løvseth confirmed she will be riding her full time trial set up, the Felt IA 2.0 FRD.

Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

No Pressure, All Løvseth

However, leaning toward fun isn’t for nothing. After winning in Kona, life has been a bit different for Løvseth. 

“Honestly, it has been a bit hard to get super motivated to do well [in Marbella],” she says. “I’m still sort of living on the cloud of Kona in a way. But, it’s nice because I feel, regardless of how the race goes, I’m very happy with my season. In a sense, I feel like I don’t really have much to lose and I’m actually starting to get excited now.” 

As the new Kona champion, there will be more eyes on her, more media, more everything, but it hasn’t overwhelmed her with pressure. 

“It should lead to more pressure, but it doesn’t feel that way now,” she says, adding that the Pro Series is also pretty much wrapped up, so there’s no additional performance pressure there. 

“I can have fun out there because I’m already happy with the season,” she says succinctly. 

It might seem like she’s taken her foot off the gas, but don’t be fooled by her joyful demeanour–that’s just Løvseth. Long-course fans first saw a glimpse of that when one of her aerobar extensions came loose at her debut IRONMAN in Hamburg. She looked at the camera comically bemused, shrugged her shoulders, and, with one arm in and the other holding the loose bar, kept riding alongside Laura Philipp and Kat Matthews. 

Despite all the extra media commitments (including this interview), Løvseth says training is going well. 

“It feels like quite a quick turnaround,” she says, referencing recovery and the need for more speed training to prepare for middle distance. “But I just decided to see what I have on the day. It’s also just fun to have another chance to race the best, which is always cool.”

Tags: