Short of beating the world record, reigning Ironman world champion Daniela Ryf successfully retained her Challenge Roth title with a timing of 8:40:03 in Bavaria, Germany recently. Her timing stands as the 10th fastest women’s Iron-distance triathlon time in history.

Meanwhile, Belgium’s Bart Aernouts won the men’s race in 7:59:07, while Britain’s Joe Skipper who and German Maurice Clavel completed the podium.

Starting the day with an early lead, Ryf was first female out of the 3.8km swim ahead of Heather Wurtele and Brit Laura Siddall. On the bike, she didn’t give up her lead and worked hard on extending it to 11:05 mins before the 180km route was over.

Weather was proving to be a challenge with strong winds and searing heat, but Ryf continued to extend her lead to 15 minutes lead over Siddall by 15km of the 42km run before crossing the line in 8:40:03hrs. Brit Laura Siddall and American Lisa Roberts completed the podium.

Source: 220 Triathlon