Svenja, what do you study and how do you manage your weekly routine?
I am studying Sport and English to become a teacher at a high school. This semester I reduced the number of my classes in order to have more time to work as a stewardess and to train harder.

How did you become a stewardess and what is the most exciting thing about it? 
Unlike my friends, I never wanted to jump right into the university or an academic career. I was desperate to see the world. The only problem was, that I needed to find a job that enabled me to travel. And since I always loved to fly it was obvious to start with a stewardess career. Right after sending in my application I received the letter of acceptance. One day after my verbal exam I drove to Frankfurt and started with my training. It took six months till the first time working above the clouds and two years in total to finish the training. I love it since the first day. It is just amazing. The best thing is traveling with nice passengers. For me the biggest mind blowing thing is still when I realize what distances an airplane can fly.

What kind of sports did you do and how did you become a triathlete?
It is actually pretty funny, because I did not do any kind of sport before. Well, that might not be completly true. I did five years of horse riding and was actually not too bad. Then I tried show jumping till I had a bad accident. Since then I was not really as excited about the sport anymore. As a kid, I did many different sports such as Ballet, Track&Field, Volleyball, Judo, Swimming and Tennis. But none of these fulfilled me. When I turned 12 I got a dog. That was the time when I started running and biking. At first, I was so slow my dog had to wait every time. But after a while, I got better. It got to a point where I was running 20km in the morning and evening – I simply got addicted to the sport. When I was 17 I lived for one year abroad in Montreal, Canada. During that time I got accepted to the Cross Country Team where I improved a lot. Then, somehow I tripped over the triathlon sport and that is how everything began.

What is the most exciting thing doing triathlon?
I like that the sport does not only focus on one thing. It offers you a big variety which makes it never boring. Moreover, I love to meet and train with all the different people from all three sports.

What was your biggest success?
The IRONMAN World Championship in Kona 2016 last year was by far my biggest highlight. Finishing 1st overall of the amateurs and 15th overall women, including the elite athletes, was a huge surprise. Especially, since I could not run the last couple weeks due to an unpleasant injury. But afterward, I was able to enjoy the race atmosphere and the magic of Maui.

What is your long-term goal for triathlon?
My motto: „Where a path is is also a destination!“

Youtube

2019
Ironman 70.3 Luxemburg, 2. Platz SR.de (german)

2018
Ironman Cozumel: Svenja Thoes holt den ersten Sieg

2017
Schüler lernen Teamgedanken kennen (german)

2016
Live by RTL Luxembourg
Thoes: The fastest age-group athlete in Kona (TriTime Interview – german)
Triathlete Thoes is convincing again with strong results (german)
The Vice-World Champion (german)

2015
Almost too good to be true (german)
Svenja qualifies for the World Championships (german)
Svenja – No pain, no gain! (german)
Vertical take-off – Svenja (german)

2013
Svenja live on ZDF (Interview – german)

2012
Stadt Friedrichsthal honors her World Champion (german)

2018
Ironman Cozumel, Mexico
Callenge Sardinien, Italy
Ironman 70.3 Vichy

2017
Ironman 70.3 Calgary, Canada
Ironman 70.3 Racine, USA
Challenge Heilbronn
Training Camp Málaga

2016

IRONMAN World Championship Kona
European Championship Walchsee Challenge 70.3
IRONMAN 70.3 Luxembourg
IRONMAN 70.3 Mallorca
Neunkirchen City Run
Saarbrücken Women Run

2015

IRONMAN 70.3 Mallorca
IRONMAN 140.6 Mallorca

2014

IRONMAN 70.3 Mallorca
IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Mont-Tremblant
ETU Challenge Half Distance Mallorca
IRONMAN 70.3 European Championship Wiesbaden

2012

IRONMAN 70.3 Mallorca