Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 77, December 2015 | Page 17

Feature

Ma

Go, Gizelde, Go!
Having won the ITU Duathlon World Champs Junior Women’s title in Australia in October, Gizelde Strauss appears to have a
bright future ahead of her in multisport. – BY SEAN FALCONER

T
Images: Courtesy Gizelde Strauss

he lead pack of four girls competing in the ITU
World Du Champs in Adelaide stuck together
for the 5km first run leg, and then through the
20km bike leg, but after just 100 metres of the
final 2.5km run leg, SA’s Gizelde Strauss put the hammer
down and pulled away from her competition, quickly
opening a 20-second lead and holding it all the way to
the finish to claim her first World Title. Not bad for a
16-year-old competing in the 16-19 junior age category
against older girls.
Gizelde says she went into the race with a clear
gameplan. “I was stressing a bit when they called us
to line up, but soon as the gun went off I forgot about
everything and did my race as I was supposed to. The
plan was to stay with the pack at first, because I run
well, so I can break away early, but my cycle is not as
strong, so it doesn’t help to go too early. Therefore, I
stayed with the pack on the first run and bike leg, then
broke away on the second run. Winning the title for SA
felt really great, like all my hard work paid off, and I
would definitely like to stand on the podium to hear our
National Anthem played again!”

STARTING YOUNG
Gizelde was born in the Free State, has grown up in
Limpopo Province, and currently attends the HPC High
School in Pretoria, where she is coached by former
Olympic and Commonwealth triathlete Katie Roberts. Her
older brother Yanich is also a talented multisporter, and
Gizelde says she got into sport thanks to him. “When
I was five, my brother did running and swimming, so I
also started, just having fun. I got SA colours for the first
time in Grade 0, in biathle, and also did cross-country
and biathlon, and I started with duathlon and triathlon
when I was 12.

Unsurprisingly, Gizelde also dreams of turning pro after
school and one day competing at the Olympics, but she
also wants to study sports nutrition and go into that after
her competitive days are done. Either way, the future
looks bright for this young World Champ.

This year has been particularly successful for the
youngster, as she won the SA titles in her age category
in both duathlon and triathlon, then won the African
Champs title in Duathlon in Egypt before claiming the
World Champs title in Australia. “I was also selected for
the World Champs in triathlon, but Kate and I decided
my swimming is not good enough yet, and it would not
make sense to spend all that money to go there and
then not even finish due to possibly being lapped and
eliminated, so I will work on that in the coming year and
hopefully get to both World Champs next year.”

17