Wikel wins her age group, qualifies for world event

SANDUSKY — Kim Wikel punched her ticket to another Ironman world championship. Wikel, from Milan, won the female 45-49 age group Sunday to qualify for the 2027 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Chattanooga, Tennessee. "That was the goal, to get to Chattanooga," she said. "When you have a world championship on U.S. soil, you've gotta take it. It's one of my favorite courses on the Ironman circuit so I'm super looking forward to it. "This year's in Nice (France) and that's a little too far." Wikel repeated as an age group champion in the Ironman 70.3 Ohio. She finished in 4 hours, 11 minutes, 47 seconds on a mild, windy day. "The wind on the bike wasn't as bad as I expected it to be," she said. "It was actually a really fast bike course today. The run felt good, the breeze made it cool enough that I didn't overheat. "I had a really good bike and a really strong run as well. The stacked workout was pretty solid." Like all of the competitors, Wikel had to adjust when the 1.2-mile swim in choppy Sandusky Bay was cancelled a couple hours before the race. "The lake was a little gnarly this morning," Wikel said. "I was pretty happy we weren't gonna jump in. With the rip current warning, that was the right call. It's Lake Erie. It's a finicky lake. It's shallow and the locals know how bad it can get. It's not the easy call, but it was the right call." Wikel competed last year in Chattanooga when the swim portion of the race was canceled, so she quickly adjusted. "You just learn to kind of roll with the punches," she said. "Everyone is in the same boat, so if you understand that everyone is doing the same thing you're doing, if affects you less and you have the one-up on everyone else. I've learned through the years to just run my race." Wikel finished the 56-mile bike ride in 2:33.51 (an average of 22.23 mph) and completed her 13.1-mile run in 1:36.04. The mild temperatures were a big help. "It is breezy. When we were running into the northeast, it was so cooling," she said. "Even when it was behind you, it didn't feel like you were overheating. For me, it was a perfect day for temperature. We've had 90s for three weeks now and today's it's 76. It's a pretty good day." Wikel said the air quality for the race was good. Competitors and Ironman organizers were concerned about the wildfire smoke that rolled into the area from Canada late last week. That wasn't a concern Sunday. "I have asthma pretty bad so I was a little concerned, but I didn't feel it all," she said. "I thought that I would on the run, but I didn't feel it at all. I did a couple days ago, for sure. "You can see the blue skies so you know it's not like it was the other day." Next up for Wikel is her second straight trip to the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, in October. She finished 13th in the world in her age group last year. "I didn't go in with many goals. I took the pressure off and just wanted to enjoy the day," she said. "I'm trying to balance that this year with putting goals on myself and not having the pressure. I'd like to do top 10. Podium in my age group would be a goal."