Anne Haug took third place in an exciting Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. The 39-year-old lost a gripping duel for second place when outsider Chelsea Sodaro won.
Anne Haug showed a strong performance on Friday night at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, but was unable to repeat her 2019 victory. The Bayreuth native had to admit defeat in a thrilling race between Chelsea Sodaro and Lucy Charles-Barclay, who made their debut in Hawaii. The victory of the American Sodaro in a strong 8:33:46 hours was a particular surprise, as the 33-year-old had no one on the list of favorites before the race.
Behind the surprise winner, Haug fought a gripping duel with Charles-Barclay, but just couldn’t catch the Brit in the last kilometers. “Apparently I left a little too much power on the bike”, analyzed Haug after the race. “It was very hard to be so close behind Lucy and not get close. But I’m very happy with my third place.”
The second best German was Laura Philipp in fourth place, who had little chance of a podium place early on due to a slipstream penalty on the bike course.
New format in Hawaii
After three years, the Ironman World Championship returned to Hawaii from the Corona break – with a new format. For the first time, women and men compete on different days. What has not changed: The athletes have to swim 3.86 kilometers, cycle 180.2 kilometers and complete a marathon in the heat of Hawaii.
And the course of the race did not cause any surprises at first either: top swimmer Charles-Barclay dominated the first discipline. Although the Brit missed her own swimming record, she managed to gain a clear lead over the other favorites. The group around Haug, Philipp and Daniela Ryf was almost seven minutes behind the leader. In between, and at this point not yet on the radar of most observers, lurked the future world champion Sodaro.
Haug strong while cycling, Philipp is punished
Charles-Barclay, together with her compatriot Fenella Langridge, also shaped the second discipline and led until shortly before the end. Behind it, things actually went perfectly for Haug, as she was able to stay close to top cyclist Ryf for a long time. The star from Switzerland had clearly won the World Championships in Utah, which had been made up for in 2021, in May, but Ryf was unable to gain a large lead in her prime discipline on Kona. Haug came into the bike finish only 5.30 minutes behind, a feasible task for the strong runner.
Things went less well for the second German favorite Laura Philipp. The woman from Heidelberg drove too close to a competitor and was given a five-minute time penalty for slipstreaming. As a result, Philipp was no longer able to compete for the top positions.
Marathon with a surprise
So at the beginning of the run it looked like a duel between the leader Ryf and the best runner on paper Haug, but this crazy race had more surprises in store. Because Ryf, who had just set the second best bike time in the history of the women’s race on Kona, collapsed right at the start of the marathon and fell behind at the end.
And while Ryf, the outstanding athlete of recent years, was passed, the star of a new athlete rose: Hawaii debutant Sodaro stormed from fourth place after cycling to the top within a few kilometers and slammed a marathon time of 2:51:45 on the asphalt. Haug couldn’t keep up that day and had to concentrate on the fight for second place early on. In a gripping duel, it seemed for a long time that Charles-Barclay would still be able to beat her – but she ran out of strength in the last few kilometers and ended up third.