Anne Haug shatters world best time and almost breaks 8 hours at Challenge Roth

Just saying – we featured her on the cover of the July issue of Triathlon Magazine because we knew she was ready for something big. Not sure we would have called an 8:02:38 full-distance triathlon time, though, but that’s exactly what Germany’s 41-year-old superwoman Anne Haug just achieved in winning Challenge Roth today.

Can Anne Haug set another record at Challenge Roth on Sunday?

Haug’s incredible race saw her break Daniela Ryf’s record set a year ago (8:08:21) by just under six minutes. Ryf’s performance last year finally eclipsed the standard set by Chrissie Wellington back in 2011 (8:18:13), but Haug has taken things to a completely new level now, banging on the door of a sub-8 Ironman performance. (Anyone else remember the Sub-8 challenge? For that the athletes had pacers throughout the entire event. Today Haug came oh-so-close without a pacer in sight.)

The only time Haug even had any company in the race was through the swim and the early portions of the bike. Haug was second out of the water in 52:37, finishing just a few seconds behind Great Britain’s Abi Bedwell (52:35). Countrywoman Rebecca Robisch managed to sneak out onto the bike course a second ahead, but it wasn’t long before Haug was out in front. Robisch would hang on for about 60 km of the bike, but from then on Haug was on her own.

The bike was finished in 4:27:56, putting Haug into T2 with a lead of just under 5:30 over countrywoman Laura Philipp, with Els Visser just behind her in third. (If you aren’t familiar with Visser’s incredible story, check out the link below.)

Forget the shipwreck – it’s time to pay attention to Els Visser because she’s winning!

Haug is one of the best runners in the sport, and she added yet another record-setting run performance to her impressive resume with a 2:38:52 marathon that appears to have been the second fastest marathon split of the day – only men’s champion Magnus Ditlev went faster.

As impressive as Philipp’s 2:44:34 marathon might have been, it still got her to the line (8:14:13) almost 12 minutes behind the champ. Visser rounded out the podium with her 8:24:47 finish. Germany’s Anne Reischmann had an incredible race to take fourth in 8:26:07, just holding off American Danielle Lewis (8:26:50).

You can see the top 10 women’s results here. (Full results here.)