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Natascha Badmann: 6X Ironman World Champion, 4X Duathlon World Champion Triathlete talks about her Success Story

Natascha Badmann is a professional triathlete from Switzerland. She is a 6-time winner of the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005 . In 1998 she became the first European woman to win the Ironman Triathlon World Championship.

Image credit: Dieter Bossard

In 1995 she started as a professional triathlete, since then she has been doing sports and felt healthier than ever in her life. She eats consciously, like to train, travel to many beautiful places and celebrate successes. She practices triathlon as a philosophy of life and to continue to be loyal to endurance sports in coming years.

At the age of 17 Natascha Badmann became a mother, worked as a secretary and was overweight. The Swiss, born in 1966, experienced the turning point in her life in 1989: she met Toni Hasler, the former national triathlon trainer, her future trainer and partner. He discovered her talent for endurance sports and consistently promoted her development to become a top athlete. The once overweight girl became one of the most successful triathletes of all time. Until a serious accident during the Ironman in Hawaii changed everything

Now the six-time winner of the Ironman Hawaii and two-time Swiss Sportswoman of the Year presents her fascinating autobiography, in which she looks back on her breathtaking career. It’s about discipline, hard training and extreme mental strength – because despite the serious accident, Natascha Badmann competed again at the Ironman in Hawaii in 2014 at the age of 48 to demonstrate her unique talent.

The professional triathlete offers insights into the life of a unique athlete who never let setbacks and strokes of fate throw her off course and are a role model for everyone who suspects that an irrepressible will is the key to victory.

Six times at Ironman Hawaii she turned her deficit on the fastest swimmers on the bike course into a lead that was big enough to run home the victory over the marathon course. At an age when almost all other top triathletes are enjoying retirement, Natascha fought her way back from a serious injury – her shoulders were so thoroughly shattered that the doctors gave her no chance of further competitive sport. But because she always liked to show her teeth, she bit through this time too and returned to Kona. She competed in professional races in Hawaii eighteen times, the last time she reached the goal when she was almost fifty. She is author of the book “9 hours to fame: The Queen of the Triathlon”.

Natascha Badmann Achievements over the years

1990 1st place, Duathlon short distance Zofingen
1991 1st place, triathlon Olympic distance Sursee
1993 2nd place, Duathlon World Championship short distance Königslutter
1994 2nd place, Europe Prestige Series Triathlon Hobart
1995 1st place, Europe Prestige Series Triathlon Kitzbühel
1996 1st place, Powerman Duathlon World Series Zofingen
1997 1st place, Long Distance Duathlon World Championships Zofingen
1998 Sportswoman of the year, Switzerland
1998 1st place, Ironman Hawaii Kona
2000 1st place, Ironman Hawaii Kona
2001 International triathlete of the year
2002 1st place, Ironman Hawaii Kona
2003 1st place, Ironman Hawaii Kona
2004 1st place, Eagleman Cambridge
2004 1st place, Ironman Hawaii Kona
2005 1st place, Ironman South Africa Port Elizabeth
2005 1st place, Ironman Hawaii Kona
2006 1st place, Ironman Hawaii Kona
2011 2nd place: Ironman Lanzarote Spain
Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship Phuket, Thailand
2012 Ironman South Africa Port Elizabeth
2012 6th place: Ironman World Championship
City Triathlon Heidelberg, Germany
2013 Ironman Melbourne Australia
2014 2nd place: Ironman Zurich
2019 2nd place: Ironman 70.3 Oman
2020 2nd place: Ironman 70.3 Oman

Image Credit: Dieter Bossard

Women Fitness President Ms. Namita Nayyar catches up with Natascha Badmann, an exceptionally talented professional triathlete, six times Ironman World Champion, four times Duathlon World Champion here she talks about her fitness routine, her diet, and her success story.

Namita Nayyar:

You were born in Basel Switzerland. At the age of seventeen, you became a mother, worked as a secretary, and were overweight. At the age of 23, you met Toni Hasler, the former national triathlon trainer, your future trainer, and your partner. He discovered your talent for endurance sports and consistently promoted your development to become a top athlete. The once overweight girl became one of the most successful triathletes of all time. You started as an athlete with the 1994 Duathlon Worldwide Championships Australia and stood at 2nd place. This later propelled your career to the height where you have been at the top of the world Ironman Triathlon and won 6-times the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005. Tell us more about your journey of exceptionally hard work, tenacity, and endurance?

Natascha Badmann:

In my youth, I was not a top athlete and my sports teacher or the other kids at school never thought that one day I’ll win a race. So with this, I want to motivate all people who were not record-holders in their youth 😉. My sports journey with Toni started with learning discipline. I really was a beginner and needed to learn the basics. I like to go out and train 3 times a week. In the beginning, this was not easy. As I ex I had excused the whole week and ended up with 3 pieces of training at the weekend. Toni was very wise and looking forward to doing a 5-year plan. In this period I became stronger every year and was building my body as well as my mind. The success was not only built upon the training side. I think we both were pioneers in many ways. Also in the mental training for sport.

Full Interview is Continued on Next Page

This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied, or hosted in part or full anywhere without express permission.

All Written Content Copyright © 2021 Women Fitness

Image Credit: Focus Sport

Namita Nayyar:

To date, you have won 14 titles in Ironman Triathlon that you have completed. An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride, and a marathon 26.22-mile (42.20 km) run, raced in that order. It is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world. What motivated you to choose this extremely enduring sport both physically and mentally to compete?

Natascha Badmann:

I won 6 Ironman World Championship titles. The World Championship used to be in Kona / Hawaii every year and is comparable with Wimbledon in Tennis. I explain this because 25 years back there were not so many Ironman races as there are today. So having my first race over this distance in Hawaii was quite special. Back then there was no Internet. So the only information’s in Switzerland I got was from Triathlete Magazine and from an athlete that already was racing there.

When I landed in Kona I fell in love with this island. When I raced I hit my limits, went beyond, and saw the beauty of this sport. I wanted more of these feelings that you can’t buy, that no one can give it to you that you have to earn yourself.

Image Credit : Deon Ferreira

Namita Nayyar:

You in 1998 became the first European woman to win the Ironman Triathlon World Championship. Tell us more about your experience with this exceptional achievement?

Natascha Badmann:

In Switzerland, this sport was not much known back then but started to grow fast with these results. Today we have a very strong triathlon community and host also an Ironman Event.

Namita Nayyar:

You have won Six times the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005. How do you manage such a remarkable achievement and which of these wins is most dear to your heart and why?

Natascha Badmann:

Looking back is winning the WC for the first time is the easiest because there are no expectations. From then on there’s the burden of the previous winner and the dangerous thinking of others that you get confronted with, that you have to win again to be enough. For us, the secret of winning, again and again, was built on the 4 poles of success that we teak today in our speeches and seminars.

As a mosaic picture, success is built by different little or bigger stones. And to stay on the top you have to improve each day, week, month, and year. You have to control your mind, work your body in different ways, and watch your nutrition and your recovery. Everything counts on day X and no mistakes are forgiven this day.

Image Credit: Focus Sport

Namita Nayyar:

At the 2007 Hawaii Ironman, you hit a cone on the bike leg and injured yourself. At the same race in 2006, stomach problems nearly caused you to drop out but you continued. In 2014 a car hit you from behind while training in Gran Canaria. In your long journey of many years in completing the Ironman Triathlon these unfortunate mishaps, accidents must have caused you major setbacks, but “Swiss Miss” came back as a much stronger winner. Tell us what has been the catalyst of your remarkable comeback and what is your advice to other fellow athletes who encounter such sports-related injuries so as to make a stronger comeback?

Natascha Badmann:

The 2007 accident was the most brutal one, as it brought me from my highest point (I broke the world record previously this year and was in the best shape of my life) to zero. I couldn’t use my arms/hands to wipe my tears and I thought I’d lost everything….. Until the moment I realized I actually had everything. Also, the medical prognosis was that I’d never been able to swim again I knew my mind will believe what I want it to. So I started to swim in my mind. And to make the story short: I went back to the Ironman in Kona and 5 years later again finished in the professional field in the top ten. I finished in 6th and it was as valuable as the previous wins to me.

Namita Nayyar:

What exercises comprise your fitness regime or workout routine you may wish to share?

Natascha Badmann:

Oh, there are so many exercises and things that I guess it would be enough to full a book, Over 30 years there is such an accumulation of knowledge in Toni’s training planning. We both saw much that works and much that doesn’t. Probably the wisest thing I can share is: set your goal and be smart. Train smart. Listen to your body. You only have one!

Image Credit: Lozza Foto

Namita Nayyar:

What is your fitness routine in such pandemic times?

Natascha Badmann:

Luckily my training has different sports and so I always have something that I can do. If I can’t swim I can do strength work (or as you know I can swim in my mind ). I can bike on my trainer and I can run on a treadmill or if I don’t have one I can even jump on place or with a rope. If I use my phantasy there are so many possibilities. But I guess there my accidents helped cause we were experienced to alternate training. And most important is my motto: give your best every day (and we can add: with what you have).

Namita Nayyar:

How do you train your abs? One secret to your toned body.

Natascha Badmann:

Thank you for this. Honestly, I always thought I haven’t enough or at least that some others have more. I guess also something we all know. When you train Ironman there is such an amount of training with swimming, biking and running, that sometimes there’s no more power to do special core training. But we also believe that it’s not a major point depending on the phase of training. So I do abs 2 x weeks during the winter period mostly with planks. But I never train abs without the back or the core. It’s very important to be in balance and don’t get the body out of the function line. What I want to say: I don’t win the Ironman with just my abs. So again: smart

Image Credit: Focus Sport

Namita Nayyar:

Do you take a special diet or have a strict menu that you follow to remain healthy and physically fit?

Natascha Badmann:

Oh yes, it’s very important in this sport to have the right food. Toni used to cook for me and he exactly knew what my body needed. I think this is one of the secrets of my long-lasting career. Also I the nutrition we were pioneers in some way and Toni did much research. I was vegan later vegetarian for some years, which was not easy back then. We strictly ate no fried things of trans fats. It was important to get enough protein every day. And I needed my carbs every 15 minutes. We ate about 20 kilos of fruit and veggies per week. We used plants and spices to reduce inflammatory like Curcuma already 20 years ago. Also to answer this could go on and on.

Namita Nayyar:

Five foods you absolutely love and five you keep to a minimum.

Natascha Badmann:

I don’t want to live without carbs (any kind of it and these are already more than 5 😉). I don’t on purpose keep something at a minimum. Knowing what is good for me and what is not helps me a lot with this. As an example, I know French fries are not good for me. So I don’t take them at all. I don’t keep them to a minimum.

But I love certain Swiss chocolate. I know that too much is not healthy. So it is easier to eat one piece than to tell me I have to keep it to a minimum.

Namita Nayyar:

You have glowing skin and gorgeous hair. Share with us your haircare and skincare routine. What special care do you take for both during extreme winter and summer weather?

Natascha Badmann:

For my skin, I do it like for my body. As much nature as possible. I love the Swiss products of Jaqueline Piotaz, cause there all-natural and she’s an expert in skin research and developing the highest standard as long as I am in the sport and with as much heart and deduction as I am.

Natascha Badmann poses for a portrait at the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona Hawaii, USA on October 1, 2016

Namita Nayyar:

One athletic leisure brand you love to wear.

Natascha Badmann:

I have a lot of fun with my Garmin 945 Forerunner. As it makes me smile a lot when it tells me that I need a rest for 70 hours (which I of course don’t do).

Namita Nayyar:

Five travel destinations on your wish list.

Natascha Badmann:

My wish list is not that big. Right now I just wish that traveling would be easier again. I’d wish I could go to a warmer place to train like I used to train on the Canaries before Covid.
And I’d love to go back to Kona one day.

Namita Nayyar:

Advice and motivational words to the inspiring and budding triathlete (biathlete= Cross country ski and shooting), who all are your fans and shall like to know from you for their climb to the ladder of success in the field of Biathlon sports?

Natascha Badmann:

Dream big. Do step by step. Be dedicated and give all in for your goal. Enjoy your training. Smile!

Namita Nayyar:

You have 5634 (meantime some more ) followers on Instagram. A message for your Instagram followers.

Natascha Badmann:

I didn’t Insta while I was active because I was focused on my sport. During my long rides, I often had ideas and stories that I thought would be nice if I could share. Today I do so. And I’m very much delighted you like it! Thank you for your engagement and that even letting me know your or our stories!

Namita Nayyar:

What do you wish to say about the website Womenfitness.net and the message for its visitors?

Natascha Badmann:

Women Fitness is such a great place to find tips and advice on how to achieve a healthier lifestyle. Thank you Women’s Fitness for your motivation and your help to make the most of our bodies!

To all my friends reading this, thank you for your support. If you want to keep track of me you can follow (in german only, sorry): www.nataschabadmann.ch

Natascha Badmann Social Media Presence

Official Website https://www.nataschabadmann.ch/ and http://www.9stunden.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nataschabadmann/

This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied, or hosted in part or full anywhere without express permission.

All Written Content Copyright © 2021 Women Fitness

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