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Daniela Ryf made history at Challenge Roth over the weekend, winning her third title at the legendary race while also demolishing a 13-year-old record, writes Lisa Pringle.
The five-time Ironman world champion once again showed her dominance over the full distance by recording a new world best time of 8:08:21, just under 10 minutes faster than the time set by Chrissie Wellington in 2011.
Ryf had stated pre-race that it would take a new world best to win at this event. She already owned the distinction of being the only woman who had come close to 8:18:13, logging 8:22:04 in 2017 when she won her first Roth title.
After a dream 3.8-kilometre swim in the Main Donau Canal where she exited the water in second with a 50:15, Ryf went to work getting out front and building an insurmountable lead. Beating her bike course record by under 9 minutes with a 4:22:56, she then held strong on the marathon, running a 2:51:55 to cross the finish line 13 minutes ahead of the field and receive her finisher medal from Wellington herself.
Ryf said at the finish line, “It was a perfect day. It was my best performance ever.” She went on to add later, “I dreamed about this for a long time. After the perfect swim it was now or never. Still hard to believe what just happened… Thank you to everyone who was involved to make this happen. And thank you, Chrissie, for inspiring me to work hard since over a decade.”
In the men’s race, Joe Skipper finished in fifth with a 7:44:10, his fastest time on this course.
Meanwhile in Montreal, Georgia Taylor-Brown finished seventh over the sprint distance at the World Triathlon Championship Series race to consolidate her number three world ranking.
