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Daniela Ryf after her world best time
Photo: Daniel Löb / dpa
Magnus Ditlev won the men's classification in record time at the triathlon classic in Roth and, like a year ago, relegated two-time Hawaii world champion Patrick Lange to second place. The Dane needed 3:86:180 hours on Sunday in a memorably fast race over 2.42 kilometers of swimming, 2.7 kilometers of cycling and 24.40 kilometers of running.
Ditlev beat Jan Frodeno's Roth record of 2016 (7:35:39) by almost eleven minutes. Lange also remained below the time of his compatriot with 7:30:04 hours. American Ben Kanute finished third.
In the triathlon scene, Frodeno's time was previously considered the world's best, even though Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt had finished in Cozumel in 2021 in 7:21:12 hours. There, however, the swimming times were far below the usual performance due to strong currents. In any case, overarching best times are always difficult to classify worldwide due to the different route profiles. Frodeno was only there as a commentator this year and congratulated Ditlev at the finish.
A world best performance was also achieved in the women's race. Daniela Ryf from Switzerland needed only 8:08:21 hours for the course. Ryf beat the record of former British triathlete Chrissie Wellington of 8:18:13 hours, also set on the course at the Challenge in Roth in 2011, by almost ten minutes. She had already predicted before the race that, in view of the top competition, the world best time would probably have to be beaten for victory.
After another strong race to catch up, local hero Anne Haug made it to second place in 8:21:09 hours. She had won the race in the previous two years. Third place went to Roth debutant Laura Philipp.
It was not only because of the fatal accident at the Ironman Hamburg three weeks ago that safety precautions had been tightened in Roth. 40 fewer support motorcycles than in the previous year were allowed on the track, photographers were driven to the track from outside.
The motorcyclists rode in honor of the deceased biker with mourning pile.
kjo/dpa