Caroline Steffen (born 18 September 1978) is a professional

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

from

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. She is the winner of the 2010 and 2012

ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships The World Triathlon Long Distance Championships is a triathlon race held annually since 1994. The championships involve a continuous swim-cycle-run, over distances varying between that of an Olympic-distance and an Iron-distance triathlon race. The ...

and took second at the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and 2012 Ironman World Championship. Before competing as a professional triathlete she was a member of the Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team.

Career

Steffen was born in

Spiez Spiez is a town and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality on the shore of Lake Thun in the Bernese Oberland region of the Switzerland, Swiss canton of Bern. It is part of the Frutigen-Niedersimmental (administrative district), Frutigen-Nied ...

and began her early competitive career as a swimmer. She enjoyed success as a swimmer competing on the Swiss junior and senior national teams and winning multiple national titles. In 2002, Steffen underwent shoulder surgery and would eventually retire from competitive swimming afterwards. After taking some time off Steffen competed in a two-day Swiss multisport competition, the Gigathlon, which reignited her desire to compete and train again. In 2006, after having completed a few Olympic distance triathlons she entered and placed second in her age group at Ironman Switzerland, posting a sub-10 hour time. She went on to compete at the 2006 Ironman World Championships in Hawai'i where she posted another sub-10 hour time and place third in her age group as an amateur.

Cycling

Steffen moved on to concentrate on

bicycle racing Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...

as she was not enjoying the swim training and felt that her running was a competitive weakness. Soon she was invited to join the Raleigh Lifeforce professional team alongside

Nicole Cooke Nicole Denise Cooke, MBE (born 13 April 1983) is a Welsh former professional road bicycle racer and Commonwealth, Olympic and World road race champion. At Beijing in 2008 she became the first British woman to win a Gold Olympic medal in any ...

and

Karin Thürig Karin Thürig (born 4 July 1972 in Rothenburg) is a Swiss professional racing cyclist and triathlete. She is the winner of the 2004 and 2005 UCI Road World Championships – Women's time trial. In 2011, she took second at the Ironman 70.3 W ...

. After it was determined that she was too big to be a climber and not fast enough to be a sprinter, her role on the team was to set the sprinters up for the finish of races. As a professional cyclist she was showing improvement but the sport was not providing her with satisfaction. In May 2008, Steffen decided to leave the team and try her luck as a pro triathlete.

Triathlon

Soon after, Steffen was competing in Ironman competitions again. She moved to Australia and eventually quit her job to focus on triathlon training in Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast. Steffen began enjoying successes at the 70.3 and Ironman distances which caused her to gain the attention of coach Brett Sutton who eventually invited her to join team TBB and earning the nickname "Xena the Warrior Princess" or simply "Xena." In 2009, Steffen took fourth place the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Florida. A few months later she won her first major race, the Ironman 70.3 in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

in February 2010. She highlighted 2010 with a win at the

and a second place at the

Ironman World Championship The Ironman World Championship is a triathlon held annually in Hawaii, United States from 1978 to 2022, with no race in 2020 and an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culminat ...

s. In October 2012, she placed 2nd in the 2012 Ironman World Championship at Kona, Hawaii being narrowly passed by eventual winner Leanda Cave approx. 3 miles from the finish line. The next year, in 2013, Steffen would start off her season racing at Ironman 70.3 Auckland and Ironman Melbourne, where she would place 2nd and 3rd. By mid/late season she would capture 1st-place finishes at

Challenge Roth Challenge Roth is a triathlon race organised by in and around Roth, Bavaria, Germany. It is held annually in July. The Ironman distance (140.6 miles / 226.2 kilometers) version of the race has been held since 1990, and the short distance versi ...

and Ironman 70.3 Philippines before finishing 5th at the Ironman World Championship. In 2014 racing Steffen won Ironman Melbourne.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Steffen, Caroline 1978 births Living people People from Spiez Swiss female triathletes Sportspeople from the canton of Bern