Why were there so many surprise winners at races last weekend?
A busy weekend of racing saw some big upsets, along with some predictable wins.
Last weekend was a busy one on the pro triathlon race front including draft-legal racing in Wollongong, the Ironman African Championship in South Africa (pictured above are women’s top finishers Marta Sanchez and Diede Diederiks), Ironman 70.3 races in Cebu and Valencia, along with Challenge Gran Canaria.
While the victors at those events weren’t all surprises, there were a few big names who didn’t make the podium, and a number of other champions who aren’t exactly household names, especially here in North America.
So what was going on? Well, as you’ll read below, an injury sidelined 10-time Ironman and Ironman 70.3 world champ Daniela Ryf. A much bigger factor, though, is just how competitive things have become in the world of professional triathlon. There’s never been a better time to be a pro, with the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) sinking US$7 million into it’s T100 series and Ironman adding its US$1.7 million bonus to the over $4 million it’ll hand out in prize money. With the Olympics coming this summer we’re also seeing athletes getting into top shape for the Games (or as they go after a spot in Paris), or resign themselves to the fact that it might be time to move up in distance because they’re not going to make the start line in Paris this summer.
In other words – to win any pro triathlon this year, you’re going to have to be on your game. Here’s a breakdown of what happened this weekend.
Ironman African Championship: Ryf’s tough day, Wurf’s podium
It was her “worst Ironman performance” (her words – see below), but because she was dealing with a glute injury, Daniela Ryf’s goal for the race in South Africa really was to just finish and validate her spot in Nice in September. She got that done, but eighth is hardly what we were expecting from the Swiss champ.
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Another Daniela – Bleymehl (from Germany) – was also considered to be one of the pre-race favourites and appeared to have the race in hand coming off the bike, but would succumb to “torn muscle fibres” and have to drop out of the race.
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One athlete who had no problems on race day was Spain’s Marta Sanchez, who charged through the last part of the marathon to pass Diede Diederiks (NED) for the win, with Germany’s Laura Zimmerman rounding out the podium.
For the men Sweden’s Rasmus Svenningson managed to out-bike the man no one expected could be out-biked – Aussie pro cyclist/ pro triathlete Cam Wurf, then ran a solid 2:51 marathon to take the win over Denmark’s Mathias Lyngso Peterson, with Wurf rounding out the podium.
Challenge Gran Canaria
The man most would have considered the top pick to win at Challenge Gran Canaria was Denmark’s Kristian Hogenhaug, but despite leading off the bike the Dane was outrun by the speedy Iestyn Harrett (GBR). Yeah, we had to look that one up, too, but we shouldn’t have. Harrett has been on the English draft-legal scene for almost a decade, having turned pro in 2015. He even won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in the mixed relay. Spain’s Mikel Ramos rounded out the podium.
In the women’s race some of the more familiar names (Margi Santimaria, Jeanne Collonge, Svenja Thoes, Lydia Dant and Carolin Lehrieder) ended up further down on the results list (Lehrieder dropped out) as Poland’s Marta Lagownik took the win over Germany’s Rebecca Robisch and Leonie Konczalla.
Ironman 70.3 Valencia
France’s Leo Bergere was most definitely not a surprise winner at the 70.3 race in Spain. The Frenchman is on the bubble to making the Olympics (he’s got to duke out the final French team spot with fellow former world champion Vincent Luis), so nailing his qualifying spot for the 70.3 worlds in Taupo was no-doubt the goal. Germans Jan Stratmann and Jannik Schaufler sprinted for second and third.
On the women’s side of things, though, the prohibitive favourite (Laura Philipp) wasn’t ever in the hunt for the win as Denmark’s Laura Madsen dominated on the bike and easily held off the field on the run for an impressive win over another short-course athlete who likely won’t be in Paris, Germany’s Lena Meissner and Caroline Poole. Philipp would find herself in a sprint finish for fourth ahead of France’s Charlene Clavel.
Ironman 70.3 Philippines
Rio bronze medalist Henri Schoeman took an impressive win here, setting himself up for a Taupo trip in December once he’s all done with the Olympics this summer. He handily beat out  New Zealand’s Sam Osborne and Great Britain’s Thomas Bishop. The big surprise here? Schoeman had the day’s fastest bike split (OK, he had the fastest splits in all three disciplines) – in his previous long distance races he hasn’t been that strong on the bike. It bodes well for a strong day in New Zealand in December.
Els Visser’s win hardly comes as a surprise, either. The Dutchwoman has been on fire this year – she’s already raced five times with wins at Challenge Wanaka and podium finishes at all her other races, including a runner-up finish at Ironman New Zealand. Germany’s Anne Reischmann was second with Hungary’s Zsanett Bragmeyer rounding out the podium.
World Triathlon Cup Wollongong
As we pointed out on the weekend – no surprises with the winners here. Leave the race to a sprint with Tilda Mansson, and she’s likely to win, while Luke Willian took the home-country win.
