Daniela Ryf annihilates world best at Challenge Roth

She said it would take a new world best time to win, and she proved herself right. After a few years where her dominance of the sport was in question, the Swiss star appears to have put things back on track, dominating the stacked field in Roth and breaking Chrissie Wellington’s world-best time set on the same course in 2011 by almost 10 minutes.

Ryf was on her game from the gun, finishing the swim just three seconds behind Great Britain’s Fenella Langridge in 50:15. By the halfway point of the ride she had put 6:48 into Langridge, with reigning Ironman world champ Chelsea Sodaro at 9:05 back, Laura Philipp 10:24 behind and Anne Haug 11:48 in arrears.

By the end of the ride, which Ryf finished in 4:22:56, Lisa Norden was the second athlete into T2, but the Swede was 13 minutes behind. Langridge was 18:06 back, Philipp at 18:14, Sodaro at 19:09 and Haug 20:11 behind.

Ryf put together a 2:51:55 marathon split and was never even remotely threatened for the win as she blasted to an 8:08:21 finish, well ahead of Wellington’s 8:18:13.

Haug would run a 2:44:45 marathon to move herself to second in 8:21:09, with Philipp taking third in 8:25:31. Langridge (8:33:53) would move past Norden (8:43:11) to take fourth.

We’ll have more analysis of today’s race later today.