Ironman World Championship: Hong Kong star Cheng aiming to ‘overcome fears’ in scary race
Ruby Cheng seeking to ‘empower women’ on return to ironman global stage in Nice, 12 months after competition debut
Ruby Cheng Wang says she is returning to Nice for Sunday’s Ironman World Championship “a different person” from the troubled soul who raced in the French city five years ago.
Hongkonger Cheng has flourished athletically since establishing her own coaching business early in 2022. The 33-year-old made her Ironman World Championship debut 12 months ago, when she finished 317th out of 2,039 competitors in the Hawaiian town of Kona.
Cheng, who spent time with the Visma-Lease a Bike team of runner-up Jonas Vingegaard at this year’s Tour de France, had questioned whether she would again put herself through the 140.6-mile test of physical and mental endurance.
Her fears were amplified by the 2,400 metres of elevation over a torturous 112-mile bike course in Nice.
Cheng, though, decided to “race for other people”, notably a charity dedicated “to empowering teenage girls in Hong Kong”. Additional motivation will come from exorcising the ghosts of 2019, when Cheng finished 176th in her 25-29 age category at the half-ironman World Championship on the Cote d’Azur.
“I am going back a different person,” Cheng said. “One reason for competing is to see a different me. In 2019, I wasn’t confident, I had no specific goal and was experiencing lots of ups and downs in life.
