Just yesterday she wrote on socials that she didn’t feel quite ‘ready’ for the race – as she never has at an Ironman – but nothing could be further from the truth; Daniela Ryf has just won Ironman Thun in her home country Switzerland and with great power. The Swiss former world champion finished in a time of 8:59:05.
It turned out to be a lonely day for Ryf, who grabbed a huge lead right from the swim. When Ryf had finished the 3.8-kilometer swim after 51:20 minutes, the first pursuers were already at over 5:30 minutes. The race was not characterized by a remarkably strong field of participants either, but names like Nina Derron, Alexandra Tondeur and Jenny Schulz still appealed most to the imagination.
On the bike, Ryf proved to be next-level and her lead became particularly large; it went fast for the Swiss, because with a bike time of 4:43:59 she flew over the course and eventually her lead in T2 had increased to just under half an hour. The Finnish Heini Hartikainen then followed as second, Derron as third, Tondeur as fourth and Schulz as fifth. Incidentally, those ladies were even further behind and Schulz, for example, was looking at a gap of almost three quarters of an hour.
During the marathon – which Ryf ran in 3:18:36 – Ryf’s lead remained unchanged. When she crossed the finish line, Tondeur was second with a 28-minute gap. Hartikainen was third at more than thirty minutes behind. Ryf finished in 8:59:05.
