Perfect conditions greeted athletes at the inaugural Challenge Gallipoli in Türkiye today as over 500 competitors from 16 nations competed in this iconic destination. With a male-only pro field, it was Strahinja Trakic (SRB) who took home his first professional win in 4:00:59.
In the swim it was Ognjen Stojanoviç (SRB) who took an early lead, exiting in the one-lap swim in historic ANZAC Cove in 23:17, a clear minute ahead of Trakic. However, a flat tire, just 1km into the bike put him over six minutes in deficit. Trakic made the most of this misfortune, establishing a solid lead on the testing course with over 900m of vertical gain. Coming off the bike into T2 with the fastest bike split of the day in 2:12:28, over three minutes ahead of second place Jonathan Guisolan (SUI), Trakic never looked back on the run and took the win in 4:00:59. Stojanović managed to regain his time on the run, overtaking Guisolan and posting a fast 1:15:43 in the heat to take second in 4:05:10 while Guisolan rounded off the podium in third in 4:06:52.
“It was a good day for me” said Trakic. “It’s a beautiful venue and course and it’s hilly on the bike and run and that suits me well. I lost some nutrition on the bike so I suffered a bit on the run but I had a big advantage after the bike so it was more or less controlled on the run. It’s so beautiful here and there’s a lot of historical stuff to see here and I recommend anyone to come and do this race!”
As well as the race prize purse, the pro field was also racing for Challenge Family World Bonus points plus every athlete who finished in the top six of their division took home a qualification slot for The Championship 2025.
