On Saturday, the TEAM SPORT FOR GOOD athlete will compete for the second time in the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. She is determined to follow up on her fifth place last year on Big Island and fight for the podium.
At lot has happened for Kaisa Sali in the last 12 months after her fifth place finish in 2016. Since the end of last year Siri Lindley is her new coach, planning training and races for her. In May Kaisa married her long-time partner Markus Sali. Both spent almost 4 months in Boulder, USA, to guarantee a perfect preparation of the TEAM SPORT FOR GOOD athlete for the season highlight this Saturday.
With a second place finish at Ironman South Africa, the win at Challenge Turku und a fourth place at the ITU Long Distance World Championship, the Finnish athlete already showed that she is in good shape and wants to fight for the world title. "Compared to last year, I have improved considerably. The cooperation with Siri and her on-site support at Boulder have helped me a lot and results do confirm it. Since the end of september I am here on Big Island and am well acclimatized. There will be a few little training sessions left and Saturday morning I will be read for the battle for the world championship."
To be able to fight for the title, the winner of Ironman South Africa spent some 720 hours training in the water, on the bike and in her running shoes in the last nine months. This specific training is complemented by strength, mobility and other additional training sessions summing up to more than 1100 hours of training for Sali.
When the cannon is fired at the bay of Kailua Kona, the Finnish athlete will be at the starting line with 34 other female professionals. Her biggest rivals are presumably last year's winner Daniela Ryf, Heather Jackson from the US, the two fast Danish girls Michelle Vesterby and Camilla Pedersen and also Sarah Crowley and Rachel Joyce.