The temperature rose considerably – towards thirty degrees – and that fit perfectly with the thrillingly exciting battles that unfolded today against the backdrop of The Championship: for both the men and women, the battle for the podium – and far behind it – lay wide open until deep into the final. Ultimately, the win went to an overjoyed Harry Palmer and an emotional and equally overjoyed Caroline Pohle.
Already during the swim, some gaps emerged in the men’s race, although the race really only turned on its head during the bike. That was due to just one cause: the devastating pace that the young Dane Valdemar Solok set, during which speeds of up to sixty kilometers per hour were the rule rather than the exception. For a long time, Solok, who recently won Challenge Cesenatico, seemed on his way to breaking Frederic Funk’s bike course record dating from 2024, but due to a rising headwind in the final kilometers, he just missed out. What he did succeed in doing was completely tearing apart the men behind him, who, despite forming several large groups, failed to close the gap and saw their deficit increase to around three minutes.
The chasing group included Henry Räppo, Harry Palmer, Kieran Lindars, and Jannik Schaufler, while the biggest absences were Will Draper and Frederic Funk, who beforehand were perhaps seen as the biggest favorites. Both men had a bad swim and Draper lost his nutrition early on the bike – something that certainly didn’t help – and they eventually entered T2 about a minute after the big group.
As impressive as Solok rode his bike, he struggled just as much during the run. Already in the first of four running laps, Palmer, who ran the strongest from the chase, closed the gap by about 45 seconds, and in the following kilometers, the difference between the two kept shrinking. While the temperature climbed higher and higher, the running pace dropped a bit more, but it really seemed to be Palmer who kept his cool the most; with about five kilometers to go, he overtook Solok and ultimately soloed to a beautiful victory.
Palmer won The Championship in 3:31:55, Solok finished second in 3:32:29, and Draper, who made a great comeback during the run, finished third in 3:33:59.
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Emotional Caroline Pohle Unstoppable
A completely different race dynamic emerged for the women, although it was also exciting until the end there. Ultimate winner Caroline Pohle had to adapt quickly early in the day when she had what she called an ‘unexpectedly bad swim leg’ and thus had to go full on the attack on the bike. That is exactly what she did, because having previously finished second at The Championship, but collapsing 800 meters before the finish a year later and thus wasting a new podium spot, she wanted nothing less than the win now.
But compatriot and teammate Lena Meissner naturally thought otherwise. It was that same Meissner who tried to hook on when Pohle made a great move on the bike, and although she managed to do so for about ten kilometers, she soon felt that she had to let Pohle go anyway, otherwise she would shoot her entire bolt. From that moment on, Pohle – who some weeks ago already won Challenge Mogán-Gran Canaria – was gone and she built up a lead of about three minutes on the bike.
But then the run began – and that’s where it got really hot. All the ladies naturally began to feel that, but Pohle especially seemed to suffer from it quite a bit in the first kilometers. That resulted, at the very least, in Meissner being able to push forward with the chase and quickly shaving about a minute off her deficit. Meanwhile, Katrine Graesboll Christensen also kept getting closer: after a bad swim leg – she was disappointed with it herself as well – she began picking up more and more ladies on the bike and during the run, ultimately running her way to a third-place position.
In the final kilometers, it remained exciting whether Pohle would secure her victory or be overcome by the heat, but she held her ground bravely and ran to an emotional victory. She won the race in 3:55:39. Meissner finished second in 3:57:11 and Graesboll Christensen finished third in 3:58:32.
