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South African professional triathlete Jamie Riddle has secured qualification for both the half and full Ironman World Championships for the second successive year but insists the achievement is only one step towards a much bigger goal.
Riddle booked his latest world championship berth after finishing seventh in a stacked Ironman European Championship field in Frankfurt, a result that ensured he claimed one of the coveted qualifying slots despite battling scorching conditions and a costly mistake in transition.
Riddle had already secured his place at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in September after a strong performance at Ironman 70.3 Elsinore in Denmark in June.
His latest result completed the double once again, earning him a berth at the global showpiece in Kailua-Kona in October.
While delighted to have accomplished what he set out to do, the Gqeberha-born triathlete admitted he initially struggled to appreciate the magnitude of qualifying for both world championship events in consecutive seasons.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a race where I’ve walked away fully satisfied or happy,” Riddle said in a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel.
“When you’re pursuing something, a dream that is so clear, until that is realised, I feel like you’re never going to truly be satisfied or happy.”
Racing over a modified course that featured a 3.8km swim, a 125km bike leg and a half marathon run, Riddle said adapting to the shortened distances required a change in strategy.
“You can script as best as you want, but until you’re in the moment and reacting to the situation, you actually don’t know. You’ve got to be prepared for anything,” he said.
After an energy-conserving swim, Riddle produced one of his strongest bike performances, shadowing Norwegian stars Gustav Iden and Casper Stornes before a mistake in the second transition proved costly.
“I got off the bike with two world champions, sat down, picked up the wrong bag and had to run back and change it,” he said.
“That cost me about 20 seconds, and, looking back, I think that was the mistake of the day.”
Forced to chase in temperatures reaching 39°C, Riddle said he paid the price for pushing too hard too early on the run as his core temperature rose.
Even so, he refused to let the difficult finish overshadow what he had achieved.
“As an athlete, you get caught in that cycle of, ‘It’s never good enough.’ It’s never going to be good enough,” he admitted.
“But I need to wake up and be like, ‘Damn, bro, I did that.’ I need to be proud of it, and I am proud of it because it is bloody good.”
With qualification now secured for both global events later this year, Riddle has already shifted his focus to the biggest challenge ahead.
“We’ve done what we came here to do,” he said.
“We have 11 weeks until Nice. I need to become more professional. I need to put in the work.
“It’s about falling in love with the process and making sure I arrive in Nice ready to fight.
“Then there’s no playing safe. I’m going for it.”
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