If last year taught Nicole van der Kaay anything, it’s exactly what not to do in 2025.
For starters, the Paris Olympian won’t make her first race back from the personal ‘annus horribilis’ that was 2024 any bigger than it already is.
Nor, as Sunday’s World Triathlon Cup opener in Napier looms, will she be drawn on long term plans entering the new LA ’28 Olympic cycle, much less whether a tilt at a third Games in the City of Angels is a possibility.
“Yeah, I won’t say,” van der Kaay told SBR, Tri NZ’s official publication.
“LA could be on the cards, it might not be. I’m not sure. I’m not going to commit to anything yet. It’s three years away…”
What the Taupo 29-year-old is focused on is rediscovering the joy of training and racing again after a herculean effort returned just two top 10s at second tier World Cup level in her eight short course starts last year.
It was a freefall from arguably her career year in 2023 when van der Kaay proved herself the Queen of Oceania triathlon, winning all five continental races on offer before sealing Paris selection with two top-8s on the premier World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) circuit.
Knowing her days with long-time coach Stephen Sheldrake were numbered, she opted to bypass last summer’s Oceania racing and link with Paulo Sousa’s renowned training squad in Portugal in early 2024.
The Estonian came highly recommended by other WTCS athletes and van der Kaay hoped a fresh coaching philosophy could help her find swim gains to be genuine top 10 contender in Paris.
Frustratingly, the move backfired. Not only did she regularly find herself well off the pace in swims last term, van der Kaay’s renowned run speed faded too.
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Napier Triathlon Festival – Fan Guide
Sunday, Feb. 23
8:00am – Tri NZ Suzuki Series Sprint Championship – Men
8:10am – Tri NZ Suzuki Series Sprint Championship – Women
8:15am – Teams Race
9:35am – Tri NZ Junior Series Final – Men
9:36am – Tri NZ Junior Series Final – Women
9:45am – Napier Tri-er – Men
9:46am – Napier Tri-er – Women
11:15am – World Triathlon Cup Napier – Women
1:15pm – World Triathlon Cup Napier – Men
2:30pm – Medal Ceremony & Prize Giving
Watch live on TVNZ+
ELITE WOMEN – Coverage Starts 11:05am
ELITE MEN – Coverage starts 1:05pm
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The most crushing result was her 31st placing in the women’s individual in Paris, two spots lower than her debut at the pandemic delayed Tokyo 2020 Games.
When a bloodied Hayden Wilde tagged her in the Mixed Relay a few days later, after the Kiwi lead-out man crashed on the penultimate corner of the bike leg, “NVDK’s” misery was complete.
The NZL quartet quickly faded from leading the teams race to finishing 14th, ahead of only Austria, in a result that was likewise two spots lower than their MR result from Tokyo.
Finishing just off the podium at World Cup Rome in early October gave hope of a late season revival but it was a false dawn, 36th at the WTCS Grand Final in Torremolinos at least mercifully drawing the curtain on her short course year.
It was clear for all to see in Spain that Oceania triathlon’s Queen Bee had lost her sting, physically drained and emotionally done. She wandered home via fun money races in Phuket and Noosa to some much-needed TLC from family and friends.
“It was definitely too long,” van der Kaay admits her 10-month stint offshore. “Like, it’s good when things are great, but then when things aren’t great, it’s just nice to be home.
“And, yeah, the training [under Sousa] didn’t work for me. It was not specific and not in the right kind of areas I need to work on. Obviously it works for some and not for others.
“I learned what doesn’t work for me.”
Encouragingly, the summer of rejuvenation in Taupo and Gisborne seems to have worked it’s magic.
“I’ve already turned the page on 2024,” van der Kaay wrote on social media earlier in the New Year.
“Took a big ol’ break after 2024 almost broke me! Probably the longest since I was 18, and I can now happily say motivation and passion for the sport has returned.”
Van der Kaay’s new coach, Ben Rezel, has been a catalyst in fighting off her 2024 funk.
Already mentor to long distance Kiwis Hannah Berry and Braden Currie, the German now also has van der Kaay’s partner, Tayler Reid, on his books after Reid also split from Sheldrake.
“Ben’s very specific and I’ve never had a coach that specific before, so it’s nice to have something completely different,” van der Kaay said.
“There’s more VO₂ work. Every session is specific to watts or to pace and that’s been really good because you’ve got something to focus on each session.”
Beyond Napier this weekend and the Oceania (Standard Distance) Championships in Devonport, Tasmania next month, van der Kaay’s schedule is still a work in progress.
Like many Paris Olympians, Wilde chief among then, she is planning to add some longer distance racing into the mix.
“I’m just doing what makes me happy and what feels good, you know. My pathway is open really,” she said.
After being the clear Kiwi No.1 heading into 2024, van der Kaay now finds herself behind Ainsley Thorpe in the world rankings, 43rd plays 48th.
Van der Kaay will start in the No.6 bib on Sunday, sandwiched between Thorpe and Paris reserve Brea Roderick in 5th and 7th respectively.
Seeded above the Kiwi trio are Verena Steinhauser, China’s Xinyu Lin, American Erika Ackerlund and Steinhauser’s Italian compatriot Ilaria Zane, the latter remembered for winning an Oceania Cup in Wanaka two seasons ago.
So, then, what are you hoping for on Sunday, Nicole?
SBR knew the answer before we’d finished getting the question out.
“Yeah. Who knows?” she said.
“This is obviously the start of the season and we’re starting off with a World Cup, so I actually have no idea how I’m going and how I’ll respond to a new coach.
“So really, it’s just getting back into racing and enjoying it.”
