Sonja Tajsich

0 Sonja Tajsich
during running training on Lanzarote, 2011
Personal information
Date of birth	3rd December 1975 (age 44)
place of birth	Munich, Germany
size	168 cm
Weight	55 kg
societies
1997-2003	SV Germering
2004-2007	CIS Amberg
since 2009	Tristar Regensburg
since 2011	Team Erdinger alcohol-free
successes
2012	Vice European Champion
2010	Winner Ironman Regensburg
2010	Winner Ironman South Africa
2006	Ironman Malaysia winner
2019	Winner Ironman 70.3
status
active

Sonja Tajsich (* 3. December 1975 in Munich as Sonja Heubach ) is a German sports scientist and triathlete who competes for Austria today. She is a three-time Ironman winner (2006 and 2010) and Vice European Champion (2012). She is included in the best list of German triathletes on the Ironman distance .

Career

For endurance sports found Sonja Heubach, as they from a friend of her sister to participate in the 10 km race in September 1996 Germering was where she lived at the time, persuaded. She completed the fun run in 59 minutes and got to know members of the local triathlon club, who motivated her to do the triathlon , even though Heubach initially said he could not swim. At her first triathlon in 1997, she was third in her age group on the podium.

In 2002 Sonja Heubach started the Challenge Roth for the first time over the long distance (3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling and 42.2 km running). After a sixth place at Ironman Switzerland 2003, there were two podium finishes at Ironman Lanzarote and Ironman Switzerland in 2004 . After what she saw as a disappointing race at Ironman Hawaii 2004, Heubach initially concentrated on completing her studies and moved to Pantai Klebang in Malacca , where she surprisingly won the Ironman Malaysia in 2006 after her wedding under her new name Sonja Tajsich . Although the training took a back seat to her job as a journalist, top placements at the Ironman in Langkawi and Zurich followed in 2007.

In 2008 she took a baby break and in April her first daughter was born.

Triathlon professional since 2009

Tajsich started as a professional triathlete in 2009 and won the Ironman South Africa in 2010 . At the first edition of the Ironman Regensburg in August 2010 she lived up to her role as a local hero and achieved her third victory in the long distance.

Since January 2011 Sonja Tajsich has started for the Erdinger alcohol-free team and in July she finished third at the Ironman Germany in Frankfurt am Main.

Vice-European Champion Long Distance Triathlon 2012

In 2012 Tajsich became vice European champion at Challenge Roth and here she achieved the second fastest time of a German athlete on the Ironman distance.

In October 2012, she finished fourth in the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii . Her running time of 2:59:27 hours for the final discipline was not only the fastest marathon time of all women on that day, but also the tenth fastest time ever run by a woman at Ironman Hawaii.

Sonja Tajsich at Ironman Switzerland , 2014

An injury during running training in February 2013 led to imbalances and stoppages in the Challenge Roth and Ironman Hawaii. In May 2014, she finished tenth at Ironman Lanzarote and third at Ironman Switzerland in July, but then broke off the season due to an infection. From October 2014 she was trained by Wolfram Bott .

In April 2015 she was able to prevail against the specialists in a form test in Amberg and became Bavarian champion in the half marathon. In July 2015 she finished fourth at the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt am Main. Four weeks later she was third at Ironman Copenhagen and was able to qualify for Ironman Hawaii via the Kona Pro Ranking System . However, the diagnosis from an MRI two days after the race revealed that she had suffered a fatigue fracture during the race and had to give up the starting place in Kailua-Kona .

In March 2017, after her second baby break on the Canary Island of Lanzarote, she won the middle distance and in May she was second at the Ironman Brasil . In October, the 41-year-old started as the oldest professional athlete for the seventh time at the Ironman Hawaii and finished 21st.

In October 2018, the then 42-year-old came second in the Graz Marathon . Sonja Tajsich lives with her husband and their two daughters, born in 2008 and 2016, in Austria, and she has been working for Austria since 2019. In September 2019, she won the Ironman 70.3 Slovenia Istria over the middle distance (1.9 km swimming, 90 km cycling and 21.1 km running) and set a new course record with her winning time of 4:51:01 h.

education and profession

Following a commercial apprenticeship, Sonja Tajsich studied sports science with a focus on media and communication at the Technical University of Munich from 1998 and graduated in 2005 with a diploma. Then she moved to Malaysia with her future husband Thomas (Tom) Tajsich , where he supervised a project for a year.

From August 2006 Tajsich worked full-time as an editor for the women's magazine "Active Women", which was launched by a Regensburg publisher .
After the birth of their first daughter in 2008, Tajsich competed as a triathlon professional until 2015. Since May 2012 she and her husband have been running a sports shop in Regensburg through their joint company "Purendure Event GmbH" . It offers coaching, training camps and running seminars. In addition, she and her husband Tom organized the Regensburg Challenge in 2016 and 2017 . In December 2017, Purendure Events GmbH & Co. KG had to file for bankruptcy and cancel an event for 2018.

Sporting successes

(DNF - Did Not Finish)

Sonja Tajsich during cycling training in Lanzarote (January 2011)

Web links

Commons : Sonja Tajsich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Personal website of Sonja Tajsich
• Profile and results of Sonja Tajsich in the ITU database at Triathlon.org , accessed on November 4, 2019 (English).
• Profile for Sonja Tajsich at the Institute for Applied Training Science , accessed on November 27, 2014
• Athlete portrait by Sonja Tajsich . In: Sportwelt Verlag . Archived from the original on December 3, 2013.
• Portrait of Sonja Tajsisch at tri2b.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ An interview with top triathlon athlete Sonja Tajsich .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Kai Baumgartner: Lotto Ironman Malaysia: Interview with the winner Sonja Tajsich (GER) . In: 3athlon.de . February 27, 2006. Archived from the original on March 1, 2006.
3. ↑ Harald Eggebrecht: Ironman South Africa: Sonja Tajsich achieves second IM victory of her career . In: tri2b.com . April 26, 2010.
4. ↑ Stefan Drexl: Ironman Regensburg 2010: Faris Al-Sultan and Sonja Tajsich win the premiere . In: tri2b.com . August 1, 2010.
5. ^ René Penno: Sonja Tajsich: Start of the season with a new sponsor . In: tri2b.com . January 18, 2011.
6. ↑ Philipp Görgen: Ironman EM: Caroline Steffen wins after suffering marathon . In: tri2b.com . July 24, 2011.
7. ↑ Harald Eggebrecht: Challenge Roth: Cunnama and Joyce win . In: tri2b.com . July 8, 2012.
8. ↑ Leanda Cave inherits Wellington, Tajsich fourth . In: Tri-Mag.de . October 14, 2012.
9. ↑ René Penno: Ironman Hawaii 2013: Mirinda Carfrae wins the title . In: tri2b.com . October 13, 2013.
10. ↑ Season-out: Sonja Tajsich fell ill with herpes infection . In: tri2b.com . September 9, 2014.
11. ↑ Christine Waitz: Interview with Sonja Tajsich: "I would love to see a victory in my hometown again" . In: triathlon.de . March 10, 2015.
12. ↑ Sonja Tajsich wins half marathon . In: Mittelbayerische Zeitung . April 28, 2015.
13. ↑ Sonja Tajsich: “Very sad not to fly to Hawaii” In: tri-mag.de, September 8, 2015.
14. ↑ Sonja Tajsich: when the engine is running, it runs (October 8, 2017)
15. ↑ Sonja Tajsich opens Purendure concept store May 2, 2012
16. ↑ Imprint www.purendure.de ( Memento of the original from October 1, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
17. ↑ INSOLVENCY: CHALLENGE REGENSBURG ORGANIZER PUREDURE GIVES UP (December 27, 2017)
18. ↑ A SUCCESSFUL COMEBACK: SONJA TAJSICH COMES BACK WITH VICTORY (March 25, 2017)
19. ↑ BASF Triathlon Cup Rhein-Neckar 2012: Timo Bracht and Sonja Tajsich win in Viernheim (August 21, 2012)
20. ↑ BASF Tria-Cup: Timo Bracht and Katja Rabe win ( memento of the original from April 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
21. ↑ Van Lierde and Swallow dominate the 70.3 South Africa
22. ↑ Jens Sägert: Heilbronn: Kienle beats Böcherer and Bracht . In: tri-mag.de . June 13, 2010.
23. ↑ Champions Erlanger Triathlon
24. ↑ Jens Richter: Ironman: Wellington wins with a new record . In: tri-mag.de . November 10, 2009.
25. ↑ Tajsich wants to go to Hawaii
26. ^ Ironman South Africa 2009: Sonja Tajsich - Mamma Mia