My Story

Name: Els Visser
Date of Birth: 03-04-1990
Birthplace: Haren, The Netherlands
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 52 kg

2015    Medicine, University Utrecht
2019    PhD Surgery
2021    Lifestyle doctor at Open Up Medical

Utrecht, The Netherlands
Sankt Moritz, Switzerland

Brett Sutton

Els’ story is both unique and remarkable. As a proud Dutchie she enjoyed various sports growing up, until she started fully focusing on her medicine study in 2008. Since then, studying was always the main priority being an ambitious student eager to achieve good results.

Besides the hard work, Els made sure she had a great student time with a broad social network of friends and fellow students while at the same time joining the oldest female students sorority ‘de Utrechtse Vrouwelijke Studenten Vereeniging (UVSV). For a period of one year, she was one of the 6 chairpersons of the sorority, developing her personal and leadership skills throughout the years.

Els her studies allowed her to travel the world, but it also changed her life profoundly. In 2014, while traveling in Indonesia, a boat she had taken with 24 other passengers sank in the middle of the night. Clinging for life in the wreckage, she eventually ended up swimming 8 hours to a nearby deserted island where she was finally rescued by a passing boat the next day. This harrowing experience prompted her to live life to the fullest and chase her dreams.

After this life-changing event Els decided to set a new challenge for herself, now knowing what the human body was capable of. She wanted to race an IRONMAN.
Her first ever triathlon took place in 2016 and her first IRONMAN race in Switzerland in 2017. With an open mind, a “never-look-back” attitude and untapped potential, she officially entered the pro triathlon rankings in 2017. One year later in 2018, she won her first title and became IRONMAN Champion on home soil in Maastricht, The Netherlands. In 2019, she made her debut during the World Championship IRONMAN in Kona and finished 16th in the professional field, only 3 years after her first ever race.

Over the last couple of years Els developed herself to a world-class athlete winning multiple IRONMAN Championships and climbing the podium in most of her races, with the ultimate goal to finish on the podium in Kona in the upcoming years.

Next to her goals in triathlon, and as a doctor with a PhD in Surgery, Els is also on a medical mission. After finishing her PhD, she has chosen a different direction.
Using her experience in both fields, as an athlete and a doctor, she sees it as the ultimate challenge to promote active and healthy lifestyles among people by focusing on the broad perspective of a healthy society. Instead of treating the individual patient in the hospitals, she hopes to prevent people ending up in hospitals due to an unhealthy lifestyle.

Els shares this mission with Open Up, the company she started proudly working with in 2021. Their mutual goal is to educate and motivate people to stay fit and vital as this is an essential ingredient for happiness!