Just a few days left until Challenge St. Pölten. On May 29 – upcoming Sunday – dozens of pro athletes will toe the line of the Middle Distance event in Austria. Among them, a few big names: Germany’s Jan Stratmann, who has a nice track record of racing in Austria, as he won Ironman 70.3 Zell am See in 2021 and was the runner-up at Challenge St. Pölten in 2021. Fellow German, Maurice Clavel also returns to try to improve on his third place in 2021. The two favorites for the women’s race are Lucy Buckingham (GBR) and Grace Thek (AUS), who come straight from Challenge Family The Championship, where they finished third and eight respectively.
Challenge St. Pölten will provide athletes with a spectacular racecourse that’s good for quite some climbing. Not only will Stratmann and Clavel be challenged with these conditions, they can also expect strong competition from athletes like Andreas Böcherer (GER), Nils Frommhold (GER), Giulio Molinari (ITA) and Caleb Noble (AUS), who finished with a podium spot at the inaugural Challenge Malta.
Besides Buckingham and Thek in the women’s race, we can expect Chantal Cummings to pull off a strong performance again. The former British junior rower ended up on the podium at Challenge Malta two weeks ago, and is undoubtedly eager to battle in the front of the field again.
You can follow the event on May 29 through a livestream and updates via ww.challenge-family.live.
