The stakes were high today at Challenge Family The Championship: all professional athletes want to win this prestigious event, but of course there are only two athletes who can say so at the end of the day. Today, those were Germany’s Florian Angert and Britain’s Lucy Hall.
Angert made the race hard from start to finish, especially during the bike and run. On the bike, he initially rode solo in the lead, having passed the fastest swimmer Richard Varga after only a few kilometers. Angert rode at a high speed, with wind in his favor well over sixty kilometers per hour and with wind against him still well over forty kilometers per hour, but could not prevent compatriot Frederic Funk from joining him after around fifty kilometers. Together the Germans headed for the transition zone, while Danish Magnus Ditlev advanced from behind and rode strongly to a third place.
During the run, Angert quickly ran away from Funk after about two kilometers and never relinquished that position. Funk started struggling and saw Ditlev pass in the closing stages of the half marathon. Angert claimed victory after 3:36:03hr. After 3:41 minutes it was Ditlev who finished second and after 4:21 minutes Funk took the bronze. In turn, he just stayed ahead of the fastest runner of the day, Thomas Steger.
Among the women, it was Lucy Hall who dominated the race, although it must be said that a number of favorites, including Sarissa de Vries, Lisa Norden and Fenella Langridge, rode wrong and thus lost sight of a top ranking. Hall made the difference both during the swim and bike and then it was only Sara Perez Sala who could follow somewhat. Behind her, it was Haley Chura who also maintained some connection and it was ultimately this position in which the ladies crossed the finish line. Hall pushed herself to the max, because Perez Sala lost some minutes on the bike, but she made up for that during the run. In the end, the race became exciting in the final phase and Hall crossed the finish line exhausted. She won the race after 4:10:45. Perez was second in 4:12:15 and Chura third in 4:14:39.
For Challenge Family we did the after-race interviews, which you can view here:
