The Iron Lady

Swiss triathlete Natascha Badmann follows a simple recipe to success: she trains, competes and wins. For example, six times at the Hawaiian Ironman.

2005 was a good year for Natascha Badmann. The Swiss athlete won all of the first three Triathlon competitions she entered – the South Africa Ironman in March, the Florida Half Ironman in May and the Blackwater Eagleman Ironman (Cambridge, USA) in June. Even a defective bicycle couldn’t stop her in Cambridge. With four kilometres left, Natascha’s back tire went flat. There wasn’t any time for repairs, and so the 38-year-old kept pedalling – and after the following running segment was still the first to cross the finish line. “Physical training, mental training, nutrition and success. That’s what it all comes down to”, Natascha says. “If you’re able to combine these four components during the preparation in such a way that they resonate with each other, then everything’s possible in the competition.”

The Animal Tamer

Natascha’s preparations are also remarkable from another perspective – that of the animal world. It almost routinely affects her training in some way. In the final preparations leading up to the South Africa Ironman, she was besieged by a pack of wild monkeys during a short stop. It wasn’t easy to get them to leave without Natascha’s water bottle. But that wasn’t the last of the animal attacks. A short time later, Natascha had to defend herself from a pelican who had mistaken her silver swim cap for a tasty fish.
And in Cambridge Natascha had to postpone her cycling training right from the start – this time because of a two metre long snake. It had made itself comfortable on top of her bicycle case, and it took a lot of coaxing before it started to look for another spot to sun itself.

Hawaii in the Hand of a Swiss

Natascha Badmann was 24 when she first began competing in duathlons (running - cycling - running) and triathlons (swimming - cycling - running). That’s not unusual in a sport in which many athletes first enter their prime when they’re in their thirties. This Swiss athlete started collecting victories much earlier. She was runner-up European duathlon champion in 1993, 1995 and 1996 and runner-up world champion in 1994. In 1995 she even won the world championship in Cancun and in 1997 the Powerman World Championship in Zofingen, one of the most renowned duathlon events. During the same period, she was twice runner-up in the European triathlon championship; in 1997, she took the title there.

And then of course Hawaii, the main highlight every year: Natascha is the only European woman to have won the most prestigious of all Ironman competitions, the Hawaiian Ironman aka the Ironman World Championship. And not just once, but six times: 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005.

Tendency 2006: Still rising

2006 is opening incidentally with the same promise of success as did 2005: Just like last year, Natascha won the South African Ironman, and this, rather commandingly (at the finish line she had a 25-minute lead over the second-place winner) – and not without adding yet another impressive chapter to her career.
With the victory in South Africa, she celebrated her eighth victory in a row (meaning she still remains unbeaten since 2004) – a series, which, according to her, can still go on for a long time. “I am at the peak of my fitness and really hungry for victory.”
To be continued.