Ditlev, Ryf Shatter Records in Roth

Magnus Ditlev and Daniela Ryf obliterated the record books at Challenge Roth, delivering course records and world best times on their respective ways to victory.

Ditlev was at the front of the men’s race all day, emerging from the swim in a seven man deep front pack that was led by Ben Kanute and Sam Laidlow. But once onto the bike, it turned into a two man show between Ditlev and Laidlow, riding under four hours each and building a more than twelve minute lead on the chasing groups, which were led by Kanute and Patrick Lange. After a blistering start to the run, it was Laidlow who would ultimately pay the price for the effort, fading all the way to 8th.

Ditlev, however, would never waver from pace, finishing in 7:24:40, taking almost 11 minutes off of the record time from Jan Frodeno here in 2016. Lange charged on the run, but could never make meaningful in-roads to threaten Ditlev. His 7:30:04 finish time would also have broken the prior record here. Kanute, in just his second full-distance race, held serve throughout the run and finished in 7:37:00 in third.

Men’s Results

Magnus Ditlev 7:24:40
Patrick Lange 7:30:04
Ben Kanute 7:37:01
Daniel Baekkegard 7:39:59
Joe Skipper 7:44:10
Bradley Weiss 7:46:06
Jason Pohl 7:46:59
Sam Laidlow 7:48:05

In the women’s race, it was a similar story: Ryf put forth a front-pack swim, sitting firmly on the feet of normally off-the-front swimming Fenella Langridge. Once on the bike, though, Ryf was not to be seen again. Her 4:22:56 bike split was 11:04 better than the next best split from Lisa Norden, and simply stayed away on the run. Ryf finished in 8:08:21, almost ten minutes better than Chrissie Wellington’s record here.

Further back in the field, there were significantly more fireworks. Norden would fade early in the run, being passed by the likes of Chelsea Sodaro, Laura Philipp, and Anne Haug. Sodaro would hold onto second for most of the mid-part of the run, but with less than 7 miles left to run, began to falter and would stop. Haug breezed past to second, Philipp into third, with Langridge chasing up to fourth. Haug would hold onto second, running 2:44:45 on her way to an 8:21:09 finish. Philipp took third, keeping a charging Langridge at bay, wrapping up her day in 8:25:31.

Women’s Results

Daniela Ryf 8:08:21
Anne Haug 8:21:09
Laura Philipp 8:25:31
Fenella Langridge 8:33:53
Lisa Norden 8:43:11
Henrike Huber 8:51:31
Katrine Christensen 8:57:27
Johanna Ahrens 9:13:59

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