Mika Noodt, Sara Perez Sala win Challenge Mogan Gran Canaria
The 21-year-old German wunderkind Mika Noodt was best prepared to withstand the debilitating heat and held off a determined charge by Clement Mignon of France on the run by a 1:24 margin at Anfi Challenge Gran Canaria, with Andrea Salvisberg of Switzerland another 42 seconds back in the final spot on the podium.
Just recovered from a recent crash at Clash Miami, Sara Perez Sala of Spain delighted the Spanish home country crowd with a 5:57 margin of victory over Els Visser of Netherlands, with early leader Lucy Buckingham another 20 seconds arrears in third place.
Perhaps worn out by the heat, Olympic legends Jonathan Brownlee of Great Britain and Nicola Spirig of Switzerland faded to 4th place finishes by the end.
Men
Salvisberg led the men’s swim wave with a 25:28 split that gave him a 2 seconds lead on pre-race favorite Brownlee and 21-year-old phenom Noodt, followed closely by Clement Mignon and Kieran Lindars.
Brownlee led the first kilometers of the bike, then as the course offered the first of many hills, Noodt took the lead from Brownlee. Noodt held his lead for the rest of the cycling leg, followed by Salvisberg, Brownlee and Clement Mignon for most of the bike until the final kilometres when Brownlee dropped to fourth, starting the run 20 seconds down from Noodt, Salvisberg and Mignon.
On the run, Noodt first dropped Salvisberg and Brownlee while Mignon stubbornly held the young German in his sights, within 15 seconds. Behind them, Salvisberg fell 2 minutes arrears at halfway, and Brownlee more than 4 minutes arrears. Ultimately, the effort to stay within striking distance of Noodt on the heat forced Mignon to surrender hope of the win. Noodt hit the finish in 3:43:37, 1:24 ahead of the Frenchman.
While Noodt ‘s performance carried the day, it fell 2:16 short of Jan Frodeno’s 2021 winning time.
“It was brutal!” Noodt told Challenge media. “The swim and bike were fine but on the run it was full gas, I never had more than 15 seconds gap and I was suffering! Once I was at the front I was pretty sure I could stay there. I’m super tired but over the moon, so happy!”
Noodt, whose best previous performances last year included a second place at Ironman Lanzarote and a win at Ironman 70.3 Les Sables D’Olonne, was exhilarated with his second win. “Now I can prove I’m not just a one race wonder!” he said.
Jonathan Brownlee was not able to equal his brother Alistair’s victory at the event five years ago. ““The lights went out after three hours, I just had absolutely nothing coming off the bike. I was training really well, perhaps I got too dehydrated on the bike, I just couldn’t get enough water in. Congratulations to everyone. I wanted to finish to respect the race – the support was amazing, the whole event is great but I wasn’t racing by the end!”
Women
Lucy Buckingham led the women’s swim wave with a 26:00 split that gave her a 2 seconds lead on Perez Sala while Spirig was well back with a 3:29 deficit and Els Visser gave herself a tall task – 4:24 arrears – to come back into contention.
On the first lap of the bike, Perez Sala and Buckingham increased their lead to 5 minutes over Spirig and 6 minutes over Visser. However large her gap, Visser never gave up hope as she passed Spirig and whittled her deficit to the leaders to 4 minutes. However, after the mid-point of the bike leg, Visser surrendered her gains and fell 5 and a half minutes back and Spirig fell further off the back.
Arriving in T2 together, Buckingham and Perez Sala had opened a 6 minutes lead on Visser and 7 minutes on Spirig.
Once the running shoes were on, Perez Sala pulled inexorably away to finish the run split in 1:19:43 to win in 4:10:38. Visser, by virtue of a hard charging women’s-best 1:19:41 run, passed Buckingham for second place by 20 seconds in the final kilometer.
“I felt really good in the swim and the bike,” Perez Sala told Challenge media. “Lucy and I took turns on the bike but we realized as we were coming towards the end of the race we hadn’t really pushed it as much as we could so we stepped up the pace. On the run, I didn’t realize the gap was as big as it was but I knew I was in first and I just kept pushing as I really wanted the win!”
Anfi Challenge Mogan Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria, Spain
April 23, 2022
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Men
1. Mika Noodt (GER) 3:43:37
2. Clement Mignon (FRA) 3:45:01
3. Andrea Salvisberg (SUI) 3:48:43
4. Leonard Arnold (GER) 3:52:58
5. Joao Ferreira (POR) 3:54:19
9. Jonny Brownlee (GBR) 3:57:39
Women
1. Sara Perez Sala (ESP) 4:10:38
2. Els Visser (NED) 4:16:35
3. Lucy Buckingham (GBR) 4:16:55
4. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 4:21:07
5. Julie Skala (GER) 4:37:38
