"The sport is back, the spectators are back, the atmosphere was great." enthuses Oliver Schiek, Managing Director of IRONMAN Germany GmbH. On Saturday and Sunday , more than 5,000 athletes competed in the world's largest triathlon for everyone over the sprint and Olympic distances. In addition, the Triathlon World Series with the elite races women, men and mixed relay.
Saturday, 09.07. - Competition day 1
On Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. the first starting signal for the sprint distance of the HAMBURG WASSER World Triathlon was fired on Hamburg’s Jungfernstieg: 500m swimming in the Binnenalster, 20km cycling along the Elbe and 5km running along the western banks of the Alster to the finish at the Hamburg Rathausmarkt.
Almost 2,000 age group athletes tackled the sprint distance as individual starters on the first day of the competition, plus another 150 relay teams. “After a challenging two years, we are delighted to finally be able to welcome our athletes back to the home port of the triathlon under normal conditions. The entire team has put a lot of heart and soul into offering our participants an unforgettable race for the 20th anniversary edition over the past few months," said Christin Ellefsen, Race Director of the HAMBURG WASSER World Triathlon.
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Elite race women / men - World Triathlon Series Hamburg
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The fourth race of the World Triathlon Championship Series this year definitely delivered “great sport”. At 1:35 p.m. the elite women's race started on Hamburg's Jungfernstieg . The 750m long swimming course led in one lap through the Binnenalster, on which no athlete could break away, so that a large group went on the bike course together. The fast and flat bike course, which leads over Jungfernstieg, Neuer Jungerfernstieg and Rathausmarkt in six laps, is considered to be demanding and very technical with many curves and turning points. Flora Duffy (BER), the reigning Olympic champion, took the lead directly on the first lap and a group of 15 athletes, including the four German athletes Laura Lindemann, Lisa Tertsch, Anabel Knoll and Lena Meißner, quickly pulled away from the rest of the field.
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The decision was made on the five-kilometer course. Here, too, Flora Duffy pushed the pace and, after a 15-second time penalty, went into the second round in second place behind Beth Potter (GBR), currently runner-up in the World Triathlon Championship Series. Little by little she sucked her way up to Beth Potter and was able to overtake the Briton with just under 500m to go and after 58.37 crossed the finish line as the winner on the blue carpet in front of Hamburg City Hall. In third place, Lisa Tertsch from Darmstadt crossed the finish line with a bright smile and celebrated the greatest success of her career after a courageous race . "Before the race I said that I finally had to show my good running form," said the Darmstadt native after the race. “I am very happy that I was able to show them today. I also worked a lot on my swimming during the winter and today all the pieces of the puzzle finally fit together.”
The men's race started at 3:35 p.m. and offered the many thousands of spectators along the course a race full of lead changes and breakaway attempts, but none of the athletes could break away in swimming or cycling.
After cycling, a group of thirty people reached the transition zone on the Hamburg Rathausmarkt, which was followed by a elimination race in running. After the first round, a team of three with Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Haydn Wilde (NZL), Matthew Hauser (RSA) and World Triathlon Championship Series leader Leo Bergere (FRA) pulled away. Wilde kept the pace high and finally took the win in 53:10 minutes ahead of Australia's Matthew Hauser (+ 3 sec) and Moroccan Jawad Abdelmoula (+ 17 sec).
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Lasse Lührs was the best German with a good tenth place and was quite satisfied after the race: "I didn't have such a great day as I had in Leeds four weeks ago," Lührs said after crossing the finish line in front of full grandstands on the Rathausmarkt and added. “I had to fight, it was very tough. But I'm glad I fought and rewarded myself with a top ten finish. Tomorrow is the mixed relay and we want to repeat the Leeds win there.”
