10 kilometers of running, 150 kilometers of biking and another 30 kilometers of running: Jörn Hansen Simon and Merle Brunnée had to race hard for it, but today they crowned themselves World Champions Long Distance Duathlon.
This year’s race in Zofingen took place under beautiful conditions; you would almost call it unique, because often the weather in Zofingen is bad. Today none of that, as it was pretty hot and sunny and that produced some fast finish times. Winner Jörn Hansen Simon even became the first man in Zofingen to dive under six hours, when he won the race in a time of 5:55:39. Emile Blondel-Hermant was second in 6:02:49 and Fabian Holbach third in 6:03:51.
The race was hard fought from the start, and afterwards Hansen Simon was visibly emotional. “This is a dream come true. I could only believe it when I crossed the finish line.”
In the women’s race, too, the winner was obviously very pleased. After Merle Brunnée already won in Zofingen in 2021, she took the world title again today. She did so in a finishing time of 6:45:03. After running the first half of the final running leg together with Melanie Maurer, Brunnée accelerated from that point on to secure the victory. Maurer finished in 6:48:34 and Belgium’s Lotte Claes was third in 6:53:47.
