Haug charges to another big win in Ibiza

Anyone who saw Anne Haug blast through her first two races of 2023, Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote and Challenge Mogan-Gran Canaria, was all too aware that the German was in incredible form. She would beat India Lee by 1:35 … into T2 in Lanzarote, eventually winning the race by almost 12 minutes. In Gran Canaria the gap was over 12 minutes to Dede Diederiks, with her dazzling 1:10:59 run split within three minutes of the men’s fastest splits for the day.

So, it comes as little surprise that the German continued her winning streak in Ibiza today, dominating the PTO European Open thanks to yet another incredible run performance and taking away any drama in the race before the halfway point of the run.

Justus Nieschlag and Anne Haug take world’s hardest 70.3

All Charles-Barclay for the first two legs

As is the norm in virtually any triathlon she’s in, Charles-Barclay stormed to the front right from the gun. Through the first half of the 2 km swim the former national team swimmer was 11-seconds up on Lotte Wilms and Rebecca Clarke, with the big main chase group that included Ashleigh Gentle, Paula Findlay, Anne Haug and Daniela Ryf about a minute down.

By the end of the swim, which Charles-Barclay finished in 24:18, the gap to Wilms and Clarke was up to 27 seconds, with Fenella Langridge, Sara Perez Sala and India Lee hitting the beach 1:30 behind. Findlay and Gentle were still together, arriving in T1 2:11 behind Charles-Barclay, with Chelsea Sodaro at 2:34, Haug at 2:44 and Tamara Jewett getting to her bike 3:25 behind the lead.

Out on the bike it was Findlay who initially appeared to be the strongest, but her charge to the front ended up having lots of company as Gentle marked her move and a large chase group started to form.

Through 30 km Charles-Barclay remained in the lead with a chase group of seven chasing between 1:13 and 1:23 behind that included Wilms, Lee, Langridge, Findlay, Sala, Gentle and Clarke. 2016 Ironman 70.3 world champ Holly Lawrence was alone, another 10 seconds back, while Ryf was in the fourth group, 2:37 down, riding with Emma Pallant-Browne. Haug was all by herself, too, 3:11 behind Charles-Barclay, while Jewett was struggling to stay in contention, trailing by just over five minutes.

Halfway through the bike Charles-Barclay’s lead was down to 1:11 over the chase pack, with Ryf just under three minutes down, now finding herself in a group with two of the best runners in the sport, as Haug joined her and Pallant-Browne. The other super-speedy runner in the field, Jewett, was now 5:25 behind.

Anne Haug destroys the field at Challenge Mogan-Gran Canaria

Haug makes her move

By the end of the bike it was becoming clear that the race would come down to a battle of the runners. Charles Barclay got to T2 with a 1:36 lead on Findlay, with Gentle another five seconds down. In eighth, though, was Haug, who was 2:06 down and primed to go after the win. By this point it was apparent that Ryf wouldn’t be a contender for the win, hitting the transition just under five minutes behind alongside Pallant-Browne, with Jewett starting the run 6:21 back. Defending Kona champ Sodaro was also out, having pulled out of the race on the bike.

Within a few km of the run it was apparent this day was going to belong to Haug. The German flew past the women ahead of her and was into second place before she’d reached the 5 km point of the 18 km run. Charles-Barclay continued in front, running faster than all but two of the women in the field – Haug and Gentle – but it wasn’t long before Haug would make the pass, taking the lead a few km later.

It took Gentle a lot longer to get past the Brit, but she was able to do that shortly after 12 km into the run. Haug was long gone by this point, over a minute up. Pallant-Browne, fresh off her third world duathlon title a week ago, had moved her way up to fourth, but trailed by 3:09.

The gap would only continue to grow as Haug continued to pull away, flying to the win in 3:38:00 thanks to a 1:02:55 run split. Gentle would take second in 3:40:30, while Charles-Barclay kept the Aussie honest right to the line, crossing just 26 seconds later to round out the podium. Pallant-Browne took fourth in 3:42:19, while Findlay hung on to be the first Canadian across the line (3:43:34), just holding off Jewett, who managed the second-fastest run of the day (1:04:21) to finish sixth in 3:43:51.

You can see the full results here.