Spanish great Javier Gomez is battling COVID-19 and will miss the upcoming IRONMAN World Championship in St George.

The 39-year-old two-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion revealed in an Instagram post that after two years of ‘dodging’ the virus, it had finally caught up with him.

Understandably Gomez, who says he has been hit quite hard by COVID, is “really gutted” and hoping to recover in time to race over the full distance this summer before making a Kona bid in October.

Gomez on COVID woe

He said: “Today I should already be in St George, that was the plan. However, the reality is quite different and unfortunately I’m in bed at the moment, with Covid.

“I managed to dodge the virus for two years but it eventually caught me. And even though I’m fully vaccinated, it’s hitting me quite hard, with high temperature, headache, sore throat, achy muscles…

“So in this situation, racing at the Ironman World Championships in two weeks wouldn’t be either realistic or responsible.”

Gomez had gone all in on preparation for St George, in a bid to prove he could be elite over the Ironman distance. For now, all those months of training were for nothing.

Javier holds out Kona hope

“I’m really gutted, as I had trained really well for months, away from home and putting all my effort to show my best version as a long distance athlete in St George,” he explained.

“I’m surprised with what I was able to do in training, but it looks like that racing is going to have to wait. Now I have to focus on recovery and then reset goals.

“Luckily there’s another World Championship in October and I hope to be able to race another big Ironman in the summer.”