Natalie Van Coevorden-inSync

We recently had the pleasure of welcoming Natalie Van Coeverden to Sync Ergonomics for a field-based aero testing session — and we thought, why not sit down and hear straight from her about where her head is at heading into the season? We caught up with Natalie to talk winter prep, big plans for 2026, and what she took away from her time out on the road with us.

Q: Hey Natalie! Let's start at the beginning — how did your winter go? What did your off-season prep actually look like?

I started back training basically in the new year with a focus on getting stronger on the bike and run going off what we knew from races last year. I have had about 10 weeks of prep now with one race in Abu Dhabi early February as a training race to see where things were at and what we can keep working on. I had a good discussion with my coach about introducing different types of workouts to help me physically and mentally get motivated to push more. 

Q:What are you most excited about on the race calendar this year? Any specific events or goals you've got circled?

My first big race of the year is T100 Gold Coast, which I hope will set me up for many other T100 races this year. These races have some of the best girls in the world, and I would love to be putting myself in contention. After having some success last year,  I would be hoping to be back on some podiums in 70.3 and winning races again in 2026, with the goal of doing well at 70.3 Worlds in September. 

Q: So, the field aero testing — what made you want to come out and get some data? Was there something specific you were trying to figure out?

In 2025, I feel like we were finding the best equipment and position for myself with races to use as performance analysis. The decision to come down was to see what the baseline was and how we can improve through small changes in my race equipment, position, and overall speed.

Q: Walk us through what the day of testing was actually like. What did the session involve?

The day of testing was about 10 different changes to equipment, with helmet, wheels, hydration, and race suit being the ones swapped in and out. I did 8 runs of about a 1km stretch to get data before we did the same test again. 

Q: What were the biggest takeaways for you? Anything that surprised you about the results?

The testing showed me that my baseline was good to start with, but we can bring down my CDA by making a few small changes to what we did on the day and in the future to my bike. It showed how specific testing can be to a person, and I am glad that we did it to show what I can use for different race scenarios. I was very surprised, mostly about hydration systems and the current hype that is in the triathlon market at the moment about this. 

Q: Last one — what's the plan from here? How are you going to take what you learned and put it into practice?

We have already made a few changes straight after testing and will continue to do so in the big gap I have between races. It showed me that what I am doing isn’t bad, but gives me more clarity on what will be faster on race day on different race courses.  We wish Nat the best of luck this season and can´t wait to see how the minor changes we made can help her go a lot faster on race day!