Laura Siddall: ‘Don’t die wondering’
Feb 13, 09:00 PM
Don’t die wondering – that’s Laura Siddall’s motto – and it’s a phrase you can see applied to so much of her life as a pro athlete.
Laura now is a hugely successful British triathlete but her path into professional sport came relatively late in life.
While sport was always important growing up she would go on to do a degree in Mechanical Engineering before taking a gap year as an officer in the British Army.
She would go on to work in the corporate world and moved to Sydney in Australia back in 2007 on a two-year assignment. Then came triathlon, a sport she tried out a year after moving to Australia and with great success.
After progressing from a rookie to securing four amateur world champion titles she took the plunge in 2013 and decided to become a pro, going full time in 2014 and moving to San Francisco to chase the dream.
She is now a four-time Ironman Champion, which includes winning Ironman Australia for three consecutive years (2017, 2018, 2019), Ironman New Zealand (2018), and also becoming the ETU European Long Distance Champion in 2018.
These days, as she marks 10 years as a professional, she is based primarily in Boulder in the USA where she is coached by fellow Brit Julie Dibens – but the recent past has brought her significant hurdles.
Most notably, last year, Laura was hit by a car during the bike leg at Ironman Brazil. It knocked her unconscious and left her with a slight brain bleed and concussion.
The journey back has been a battle of the mind just as much as it has been physically, and there have been questions about where her journey goes from here. But that phrase – don’t die wondering – is still present in her decision making.
As also becomes clear in this podcast, Laura is a passionate advocate for women’s sport and is both an athlete ambassador for the Women’s Sport Trust as well as being a member of their Unlocked programme back in 2022.
Quite simply she is an inspiration to many regardless of what your involvement is in sport – and perhaps we all need a little bit of that motto in our lives.
Messages
Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/SportSpielPod?lang=en
Like us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SportSpielPod/
Follow us on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sportspielpod/
Get in touch: sportspielpod@gmail.com
Visit our website - sportspielonline.com
Find out about our partners The Mintridge Foundation - https://www.mintridgefoundation.org.uk/
Credits
Image: With thanks to Laura Siddall
Music: Otis McDonald
Laura now is a hugely successful British triathlete but her path into professional sport came relatively late in life.
While sport was always important growing up she would go on to do a degree in Mechanical Engineering before taking a gap year as an officer in the British Army.
She would go on to work in the corporate world and moved to Sydney in Australia back in 2007 on a two-year assignment. Then came triathlon, a sport she tried out a year after moving to Australia and with great success.
After progressing from a rookie to securing four amateur world champion titles she took the plunge in 2013 and decided to become a pro, going full time in 2014 and moving to San Francisco to chase the dream.
She is now a four-time Ironman Champion, which includes winning Ironman Australia for three consecutive years (2017, 2018, 2019), Ironman New Zealand (2018), and also becoming the ETU European Long Distance Champion in 2018.
These days, as she marks 10 years as a professional, she is based primarily in Boulder in the USA where she is coached by fellow Brit Julie Dibens – but the recent past has brought her significant hurdles.
Most notably, last year, Laura was hit by a car during the bike leg at Ironman Brazil. It knocked her unconscious and left her with a slight brain bleed and concussion.
The journey back has been a battle of the mind just as much as it has been physically, and there have been questions about where her journey goes from here. But that phrase – don’t die wondering – is still present in her decision making.
As also becomes clear in this podcast, Laura is a passionate advocate for women’s sport and is both an athlete ambassador for the Women’s Sport Trust as well as being a member of their Unlocked programme back in 2022.
Quite simply she is an inspiration to many regardless of what your involvement is in sport – and perhaps we all need a little bit of that motto in our lives.
Messages
Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/SportSpielPod?lang=en
Like us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SportSpielPod/
Follow us on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sportspielpod/
Get in touch: sportspielpod@gmail.com
Visit our website - sportspielonline.com
Find out about our partners The Mintridge Foundation - https://www.mintridgefoundation.org.uk/
Credits
Image: With thanks to Laura Siddall
Music: Otis McDonald