After a recent victory at Ironman 70.3 Friesland and a solid fifth-place finish at the European Championships Ironman 70.3 Jönköping, Dutch triathlete Marlene de Boer has added another win to her season by taking the top spot at Challenge Turku. While the competition may not have been the deepest, De Boer was undeniably fast and commanding from start to finish.
The reigning European Champion over the Long Distance (Challenge Almere-Amsterdam, 2024, ed.) didn’t face much pressure in the Finnish race, but what the event may have lacked in intensity, it made up for in affirmation of De Boer’s strong form. Emerging from the swim behind France’s Morgan Branchoux and Finland’s Iida Reini, De Boer quickly made up ground on both. Branchoux was overtaken early on the bike, and Reini unfortunately crashed into a road pylon and was forced to withdraw from the race. Even without that incident, De Boer looked poised to take control.
Once De Boer moved to the front, there was no looking back. She steadily pulled away, with the gap to the chasers growing throughout the day. Ultimately, no one came close.
For De Boer, the race served as an ideal tune-up ahead of Ironman Kalmar, where she’ll make her final push to qualify for this year’s Ironman World Championship in Kona. “It was a training race, but one that I truly enjoyed,” she said after crossing the line. She also praised the race organization, calling it ‘a perfectly organized event’.
De Boer took the win in 4:05:48, with Switzerland’s Alice Fritzsche finishing second in 4:17:12, and fellow Dutch athlete Dieske Kruisselbrink rounding out the podium in 4:23:29.
In the men’s race, Czech triathlete Jan Volár clinched victory in 3:49:37, just ahead of Denmark’s Anders Toft Nielsen (3:50:31) and France’s Maxence Mey (3:51:09).
