🥇 After a tough Olympic campaign up to and including Paris that Nicole van der Kaay admits “nearly broke me”, the Taupo triathlete dedicated 2025 to rediscovering her love of triathlon. “I’m just doing what makes me happy and feels good.”
Still a good month shy of the halfway point of the year and the return of the 29-year-old’s trademark smile tells you everything you need to know about that mission.
Van der Kaay continued her winning start to the year in her much anticipated step up in distance at Sunday’s Ironman 70.3 Shanghai Chongming, capturing her debut half in 4:06:10.
Dominant from start to finish, NVDK won by more than seven minutes from Switzerland’s Nina Derron, the bronze medallist at Ironman NZ in March, with Australia’s Cassie Heaslip rounding out the podium a further 11 minutes adrift.
The result means van der Kaay has punched her ticket to November’s Ironman 70.3 worlds in Marbella, joining partner Tayler Reid who also qualified in his debut half with bronze at 70.3 Geelong in late March. Illness sadly ruled Reid out of World Triathlon Cup Samarkand in Uzbekistan earlier on Saturday but you can bet the Gisborne Olympian felt a whole lot better once news of van der Kaay’s win hit the inter-web.
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“Goal was simple: survive the distance, test the nutrition plan, pace it smart… and not blow up. Somehow ticked all the boxes and snagged a ticket to Worlds while I was at it!” van der Kaay said.
“I can’t ask for a better debut here in Chongming, I’m really happy. The course was beautiful, the swim was nice and flat, the bike was pretty flat and the wind only picked up at the end so it was a super fast bike and then the run was gorgeous throughout the trees and stuff, it just keeps you going.
“It’s quite far, I was counting down the kilometres and the time and I was thinking I’d be finished by now in some of my other races but it was really fun and I really loved the challenge, I have my coach to thank for getting me to the finish line.”
Van der Kaay admitted as early as February’s World Cup Napier that she’d “turned the page” on 2024 courtesy of her new relationship with Ben Reszel, who also coaches Reid and established long distance Kiwis Hannah Berry and Braden Currie.
Her result at the Napier sprint – a lowly 16th – gave outsiders cause for concern after a challenging 2024 which included disappointing 31st and 14th places in the Olympic individual and mixed relay.
But Reszel’s training was still bedding in and would soon pay dividends with van der Kaay going on to claim bronze at the Oceania (standard) Championships in Tasmania before back-to-back golds at the continental sprint (reduced to a duathlon) and super sprint in Mooloolaba and on the Gold Coast respectively.
She’s clearly relishing the prescriptive coaching method, even if the German’s sessions have been brutal at times.
“Still a few things to iron out before the next 70.3 – like having a foot that doesn’t feel like glass is being pounded deeper each step — but super stoked with my debut here in China! Massive shoutout to @benreszel for the absurd amount of bike hours. I may have been questioning life mid-session, but it paid off!”
Van Der Kaay came out of the water more than a minute and a half ahead of China’s Wang Siyu and never looked back. By the halfway mark of the bike the Kiwi No.1 was more three minutes ahead of Derron, extending that lead to over five minutes by the end of the bike leg.
Once onto the run Van Der Kaay controlled her pace well, keeping a steady gap over Derron as she went on to victory.
Countryman Brett Clifford (4:00:08) was 10th in the men’s race won by Swiss Olympian Max Studer in 3:38:03.
IRONMAN 70.3 Shanghai Chongming
Professional Women’s Results
1. Nicole Van Der Kaay (NZL) – 4:06:10
2. Nina Derron (SUI) – 4:13:17
3. Cassandra Heaslip (AUS) – 4:24:46
4. Lauren Hume (AUS) – 4:27:29
5. Wang Siyu (CHN) – 4:54:49
Professional Men’s Results
1. Max Studer (SUI) – 3:38:03
2. Nicholas Free (AUS) – 3:43:48
3. Justin Metzler (USA) – 3:44:28
4. Ollie Turner (GBR) – 3:47:28
5. Caleb Noble (AUS) – 3:50:19
6. Garrett Mayeaux (USA) – 3:51:31
7. Simon Shi (USA) – 3:56:08
8. Aichlinn O’Reilly (IRL) – 3:56:52
9. Fan Junjie (CHN) – 3:57:05
10. Brett Clifford (NZL) – 4:00:08
