‘Fourth in the fricken WORLD!’ & 10 other quotes from Hannah Berry’s Kona day dream

👏 For someone who started the year with a hint of imposter syndrome, wondering whether she was worthy of a full T100 Triathlon World Tour contract, Hannah Berry is going quite well.

On Sunday, the Mount Maunganui 35-year-old had a day of days at the VinFast Ironman World Championships, keeping her cool amid the chaos to finish 4^th as big names Lucy Charles-Barclay and Taylor Knibb melted [aka DNF’d] in the brutal humidity that is a trademark of the lava fields of Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i.

Berry crossed the line in 8:46:25, easily eclipsing her previous worlds best of 10^th in Nice last year and underscoring her current ranking of 8th on the rival T100 circuit. The Kiwi long distance No.1, rated 13^th in the PTO world rankings, finished behind first time winner Solveig Løvseth of Norway, Kat Matthews (GBR) and defending champion Laura Philipp (DEU). Fellow Kiwi pro Rebecca Clarke was embraced by Berry when she crossed the line in 34th after a gutsy 9:38:42 effort.

Berry’s result was the best by a New Zealand women’s professional since Joanna Lawn was 4^th in 2007 and conjured memories of Erin Baker’s second in 1993, her third silver medal after wins in 1987 and 1990.

Here are our favourite quotes from Berry’s career-best day which saw her soar six spots to 8^th in the Ironman Pro Series. If the season ended today, Berry would pocket a bonus US$20,000 to go with the US$25,000 (NZ$43,532 before tax) she banked on Sunday:

• “Jo Lawn and Erin Baker are two Kiwi legends of the sport. Both I look up to a lot. So, to be here and have a result that is kind of comparable to them is pretty incredible. Yeah. What a day.”

• “Erin’s a legend in the sport, not just because she’s an incredible athlete but she’s an incredible human, someone that I very much look up to so that’s pretty special.”

• “It was super humid, I wonder if that played a part in the crazy dynamics of the race today, I just tried to play it smart, you have to be so aware of how you’re feeling in this race because the conditions are so brutal. I just made the most of the aid stations and heaps of ice, heaps of water, and tried to race my race as I always do and it paid off.”

• “How was my day? Yeah, brutal. I think like Lisa [Perterer] said, the start of the ride, there was a lot of group dynamics. But then, that second half, there was a group of us who sort of got away from the rest. I was, to be honest, yo-yoing off the back quite a lot. So I was just trying to hang in there. Yeah. And managed to do so There was a bit of a gap at one point and then managed to close it just at the end. So, yeah, I had a good, good ride. I actually felt pretty bad starting the ride and felt better at the end. So that’s a positive and unusual.

On her battle for 4^th with Perterer
• Yeah, it was kind of like familiar territory for us. We’ve raced each other a few times now, so, yeah, it was a battle. And for a long time, I didn’t think I was going to catch Lisa. She was just sort of lingering out there. Yeah, like you said, about 40 seconds ahead. And, yeah, I was just kind of focusing on what I was doing, trying not to think about the fact that she was just up there. Well, it felt like a long way up there, actually. Yeah. And then eventually she did come back to me, and then I was terrified she was going to catch me again for the rest of the run.

• “I think you just got to focus on yourself and just kind of, yeah, focus on the next aid station. Cooling yourself down. Yeah. And just focusing on yourself. You can only do what you can do out there. So just sort of tried to find my rhythm and, yeah, hold on to the end.”

• “I think I retired about 500 times out there today, it’s so cool to represent New Zealand on the world stage, I’ve had so many messages, so much support from back home, it means so much.”

On her friendship with recent training partner Fenella Langridge
• “Yeah, that was special. She was amazing out there [in an official role]. See her whiz by on the motorbike and just hear her yelling. Yeah, she’s a special friend. She’s an amazing person, as we all know. She brings so much energy to the sport and so it was very cool that she stepped into that role this year when she couldn’t race. So, yeah, we’ll be looking forward to having her back on the start line.”

• “I had to fight really hard for it today as expected, it’s a result that I’m really proud of which is really cool.”

• “I probably need a bit of time to process this to be honest, it’s unexpected and I’m probably going to get a little emotional talking about it.”

• “Fourth in the fricken WORLD! Stoked!”

VinFast Ironman World Championship – Top 5 professionals

1. Solveig Løvseth (NOR) -8:28:27 (55:40 swim/ 4:31:53 bike / 2:55:47 run)
2. Kat Matthews (GBR) – 8:29:02 (55:43 / 4:40:08 / 2:47:23)
3. Laura Philipp (DEU) – 8:37:28 (55:50 / 4:40:26 / 2:55:53)
4. Hannah Berry (NZL) – 8:46:25 (52:02 / 4:44:37 / 3:04:32)  
5. Lisa Perterer (AUT) – 8:48:08 (55:41 / 4:40:50 / 3:06:03)

Also NZL
34. Rebecca Clarke (NZL) – 9:38:42 (51:01/ 5:00:03 / 3:39:56)

New Zealand Age Group Results

Overall + Division
294^th: Anna Longdill – 11:06:48 (26^th, 45-49)
353^rd: Tamsin Horne – 11:15:38 (74^th, 30-34)
581^st: Jo Bowden – 11:49:24 (101^st, 40-44)
591^st: Chantelle Petterson – 11:50:35 (121^st, 30-34)
718^th: Sophie Radcliffe – 12:08:20 (33^rd, 18-24)
726^th: Lynaire Parish – 12:09:30 (123^rd, 40-44)
796^th: Anna Robertson – 12:21:48 (80^th, 25-29)
959^th: Mel Joyce – 12:46:37 (87^th, 50-54)
1028^th: Caroline Kennedy – 12:57:41 (151^st, 45-49)
1077^th: Brooke Kemsley – 13:06:01(183^rd, 40-44)
1119^th: Lesley Turner Hall – 13:15:39 (117^th, 50-54)
1157^th: Michele Allison – 13:24:27 (1^st, 70-74)
1216^th: Rochelle Youngson – 13:39:55 (180^th, 45-49)
1126^th: Nikki Fox – 13:43:29 (84^th, 55-59)
1264^th: Jenny Weigt – 13:56:32 (207^th, 40-44)
1328^th: Rachael Jones – 14:19:15 (98^th, 55-59)
1431^st: Barb Carson – 15:09:53 (6^th, 70-74)

Full results can be found at www.ironman.com/im-world-championship-kona-results.