Probably not many connoisseurs had included Marta Lagownik in their list of expected winners for Challenge Gran Canaria, but the Polish athlete just managed to win the race on the Spanish island. She did so in impressive fashion, as she took victory minutes ahead of the rest of the field.
Lagownik started the day off very strong, coming out of the water in fifth place. With a swim time of 26:35 minutes, however, she was immediately a minute behind Britain’s Chloe Sparrow, who came out of the water on her own and first. At the same time, Lagownik was joined by Margie Santimaria, Rebecca Petra Robisch, Caro Lehrieder and Justine Guerard, so at that point all the favorites were actually together.
Sparrow would soon lose her lead and eventually a leading group of seven women emerged. Yet it didn’t stay that way, as the tough and technical bike course on Gran Canaria created some differences in the final phase of the bike leg. Lagownik, Robisch, Santimaria and Guerard were the first to return to T2, while Lehrieder had dropped out with a flat tire. A minute behind, Thoes followed in sixth position.
During the final half marathon, Lagowniks left nothing to chance and immediately ran away from her competitors. She did this so impressively that her lead quickly increased and only continued to increase. In the end she won the race in 4:15:36. Robisch finished second in 4:19:21 and Leonie Konczalla, who moved up the field pretty strongly during the run, finished third in 4:20:26.
