Nicola Spirig Hug (born 7 February 1982) is a Swiss lawyer and former professional triathlete. She is the 2012 Olympic and six times European champion in women's triathlon.
Career Nicola Spirig is a five times Olympian. She was Olympic champion in 2012 and runner up in 2016. She was World Championship runner up in 2010, Junior World Champion in 2001, Junior European Champion in 1999, and Elite European Champion in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2018. She was the second oldest competitor in the field when she won the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow.
Spirig was born in Winkel. On 4 August 2012, Spirig won Gold in the Olympic Women's Triathlon, winning a close race in a photo finish with Sweden's Lisa Nordén.
In the 13 years from 1998 to 2010, Spirig took part in 72 ITU competitions and achieved 39 top ten positions. In 2010, she won the European Championships and the World Championship Series triathlon in Madrid, and the silver medal at the World Championship Series triathlon in London. In the overall World Championship Series ranking she place second.
Spirig has also competed as a long-distance runner, finishing second at the Swiss Cross-Country Championships in 2014 and competing at the 2014 Neujahrsmarathon Zürich. She subsequently competed in the marathon at the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zürich, where she finished 24th in a time of 2:37.12. More recently she finished second in the 10,000 metres at the Swiss National Athletics Championships in 2021. In 2015, she and heptathlete Linda Züblin competed at the St. Moritz track in a round of the Bobsleigh World Cup, racing at the invitation of Swiss pilot Beat Hefti alongside him and brakeman Alex Baumann in the four man event, with the quartet placing 27th.
In 2021, she competed in the women's event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She also competed in the mixed relay event.
Personal life Nicola Spirig lives in Bachenbülach and holds a degree in law (lic.iur.). Both her elder sister and her elder brother were competing in different sports for fun before they started their academic careers. Their parents are teachers of physical education. Spirig is married to former Swiss triathlete Reto Hug. They have a son, born 2013Jörg Greb: Der «schnelle» Sohn der Triathlon-Olympiasiegerin. In: Tages-Anzeiger vom 24. März 2013 and a daughter, born 2017.Nicola Spirig bringt ein Mädchen zur Welt (11. Juli 2017) When 2012 Olympic champion Nicola Spirig had her first child, she was not sure whether she would ever return to triathlon. But just 12 weeks after her third child was born in April 2019, the 37-year-old was back competing in the World Triathlon Series Grand Final held in Lausanne, Switzerland between 30 August 2019 to 1 September 2019.
ITU competitions The following lists are based upon the official ITU rankings and the athlete's Profile Page. Unless indicated otherwise, the following events are triathlons and belong to the Elite category.
Olympics Date Competition Place Rank 2004-08-25 Summer Olympics Athens, Greece 19 2008-08-18 Summer Olympics Beijing, China 6 2012-08-04 Summer Olympics London, United Kingdom 2016-08-20 Summer Olympics Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2021-07-26 Summer Olympics Tokyo, Japan 6
World Championships
Date Competition Place Rank 2012-06-23 World Triathlon Kitzbühel, Austria 2012-05-26 World Triathlon Madrid, Spain 2012-04-14 Dextro Energy World Championships Series Sydney, Australia 5 2011-08-21 Team World Championships Lausanne, Switzerland 2011-08-20 Dextro Energy World Championship Series: Sprint World Championship Lausanne, Switzerland 16 2011-08-06 Dextro Energy World Championship Series London, United Kingdom 8 2011-07-16 Dextro Energy World Championship Series Hamburg, Germany 12 2010-09-08 Dextro Energy World Championship Series, Grand Final Budapest, Hungary 2010-08-21 World Championships (Sprint) Lausanne, Switzerland 6 2010-08-14 Dextro Energy World Championship Series Kitzbühel, Austria 18 2010-07-24 Dextro Energy World Championship Series London, United Kingdom 2010-06-05 Dextro Energy World Championship Series Madrid, Spain 2010-05-08 Dextro Energy World Championship Series Seoul, South Korea 4 2009-08-22 Dextro Energy World Championship Series Yokohama, Japan 10 2009-08-15 Dextro Energy World Championship Series London, United Kingdom 2009-07-11 Dextro Energy World Championship Series Kitzbühel, Austria 2007-08-30 BG World Championships Hamburg, Germany 19 2005-09-10 World Championships (U23) Gamagori, Japan 2004-05-09 World Championships Madeira DNF 2003-12-06 World Championships Queenstown, New Zealand 33 2002-11-09 World Championships (U23) Cancún, Mexico
World Cups
Date Competition Place Rank 2012-03-25 World Cup Mooloolaba, Australia 2010-10-10 World Cup Huatulco, Mexico 2008-09-27 BG World Cup Lorient, France 8 2008-07-20 BG World Cup Kitzbühel, Austria 2008-04-26 BG World Cup Tongyeong, South Korea 8 2008-04-13 BG World Cup Ishigaki, Japan 6 2007-12-01 BG World Cup Eilat, Israel 2007-10-07 BG World Cup Rhodes, Greece 6 2007-09-15 BG World Cup Beijing, China 7 2007-07-29 BG World Cup Salford, United Kingdom 10 2007-07-22 BG World Cup Kitzbühel, Austria 6 2007-05-13 BG World Cup Richards Bay, South Africa 5 2007-05-06 BG World Cup Lisbon, Portugal 8 2007-04-15 BG World Cup Ishigaki, Japan 6 2007-03-25 BG World Cup Mooloolaba, Australia 17 2006-11-12 BG World Cup New Plymouth, New Zealand 12 2006-11-05 BG World Cup Cancún, Mexico 17 2006-07-23 BG World Cup Corner Brook, Canada DNS 2006-06-11 BG World Cup Richards Bay, South Africa 8 2006-06-04 BG World Cup Madrid, Spain 17 2005-09-17 OSIM World Cup Beijing, China 32 2005-08-06 World Cup Hamburg, Germany DNF 2005-07-31 World Cup Salford, United Kingdom 12 2005-06-05 World Cup Madrid, Spain 11 2004-07-25 World Cup Salford, United Kingdom 13 2004-04-25 World Cup Mazatlán, Mexico 11 2004-04-11 World Cup Ishigaki, Japan 14 2003-10-25 World Cup Athens, Greece 24 2003-10-19 World Cup Madeira, Portugal 17 2003-09-21 World Cup Madrid, Spain DNF 2003-09-06 World Cup Hamburg, Germany 15 2003-07-20 World Cup Corner Brook, Canada 11 2003-07-13 World Cup Edmonton, Canada 19 2003-06-07 World Cup Tongyeong, South Korea 26 2002-10-13 World Cup Madeira, Portugal 20 2002-09-21 World Cup Nice, France 21 2002-08-31 World Cup Lausanne, Switzerland 15 2002-07-21 World Cup Corner Brook, Canada 9 2001-08-25 World Cup Lausanne, Switzerland 9
European Championships Date Competition Place Rank 2018-08-09 European Championships Glasgow, United Kingdom 2014-06-20 European Championships Kitzbühel, Austria 2012-04-20 European Championships Eilat, Israel 2010-07-03 European Championships Athlone, Ireland 2009-07-02 European Championships Holten, Netherlands 2008-05-10 European Championships Lisbon, Portugal 4 2007-06-29 European Championships Copenhagen, Denmark 2006-06-23 European Championships Autun, France 13 2005-08-20 European Championships Lausanne, Switzerland 12 2005-07-17 European Championships (U23) Sofia, Bulgaria 2004-04-18 European Championships Valencia, Spain 14 2003-06-21 European Championships Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic 12 2002-07-06 European Championships Győr, Hungary 14
European Games Date Competition Place Rank 2015-06-13 1st European Games Baku, Azerbaijan
European Cups Date Competition Place Rank 2007-08-19 European Cup Geneva, Switzerland 2002-06-08 European Cup Belgrade, Serbia
Junior results Date Competition Place Rank 2001-07-22 World Championships Edmonton, Canada 2001-06-23 European Championships Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic 2000-07-08 European Championships Stein, Netherlands 5 2000-04-30 World Championships Perth, Australia 1999-07-03 European Championships Funchal, Portugal 1998-08-30 World Championships Lausanne, Switzerland 5 1998-07-04 European Championships Velden am Wörther See, Austria 18
Awards 2000 Best Swiss Junior Sportswoman award 2001 Swiss Newcomer of the Year 2012 Swiss Sports Personality of the Year 2015 European Triathlon Union Female Athlete of the Year
References
Further reading Part 2 The story of how Spirig trained for, and won, her 2012 London Olympic title.
External links
Profile at triathlon.org Archived profile at triathlon.org