Anne Haug came second in the World Championships at the Ironman Hawaii. The 40-year-old only had to admit defeat to the outstanding Brit Lucy Charles-Barkley. Laura Philipp ended up in third place.
Anne Haug once again achieved a top result at the Ironman Hawaii. The 2019 world champion finished second in the Kailua-Kona event in 8:27:33 hours.
The new title holder after 3.8 kilometers of swimming, 180 kilometers of cycling and a marathon is the British Lucy Charles-Barkley, who led the race from the first meter in the sea and deservedly won in the end with a course record of 8:24:13 hours. Third place went to Laura Philipp from Heidelberg.
“I’m very tired, but overjoyed. I got everything I could out of it. Now the medal set is complete”said Haug after the race. Third-placed Philipp was also overjoyed. “I really had to fight hard. It’s really great that it worked out.”she said. “It’s very special to share the podium with Anne and Lucy. I’ll probably wear the wreath and medal all day now.”
Charles-Barclay in front from the first meter
Even before the race, many experts had spoken of the best women’s field of all time and the race was correspondingly fast. This was mainly due to Charles-Barclay, who set a brutal pace from the first meter in the sea and immediately broke away.
The famous swimmer took to the bike course with a lead of more than two minutes over her first serious opponents. But while it had been assumed in advance that Charles-Barclay would lose some time in the second discipline, exactly the opposite happened.
The Brit also posted the best bike time on the asphalt and doubled her lead over the young American Taylor Knibb, who ended up fourth. Haug had completed a very decent swim for her standards and didn’t lose much time cycling either. The stage was set for one of Haug’s famous marathon comebacks.
Haug with a monster marathon
As so often, the 40-year-old was by far the fastest runner and came from behind the field. First Philipp fell victim to her, then Haug also overtook the young Knipp. In the end, she shattered the previous marathon record in Hawaii by more than two minutes with 2:48:23 hours. But the gap was too big to jump to the top. After four second places at the World Championships, Charles-Barclay was finally able to celebrate the title.
Behind him, Philipp went through a rollercoaster of emotions. Initially really distant as the only top favorite in swimming, the 36-year-old really turned up the heat on the bike. She closed the gap to the chasing group with Haug and even distanced the two opponents. Although she couldn’t keep up with Haug on the running route, she still overtook Knipp and was happy about her first podium place at the World Championships.