Thanks to a stellar performance in September, triathlete, Kayla Kjellman has secured herself a spot at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii in October 2022.
Kayla works as a Registered Nurse at our Hospital. When she isn’t working, she’s training. The Ironman requires athletes to swim 3900m, bike 180km, and then run a 42.2km marathon consecutively.
In 2019, Kayla qualified for Kona 2020 but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. Despite closures and obstacles interfering with her training, she persevered and continued to find ways to train. Kona 2021 was in her sights. Unfortunately, with the fourth wave of the pandemic, the event for 2021 was cancelled.
With many ups and downs over the past two years and a list of cancelled races, Kayla has managed to stay determined and come out stronger than ever.
In September of 2021, she finally got the chance to race in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her impressive performance landed her 1st in her age group and 12th out of 631 women. She beat her previous Ironman time by an hour and placed 53rd overall out of more than 2,000 athletes. This was enough to secure her a spot at the 2022 Ironman World Championships in Kona.
Congratulations and good luck Kayla!
The full article can be found in the Chronicle Journal and the Thunder Bay Source.