With two wins under her belt already this season, in-form German athlete Caroline Pohl will be looking to secure a hat-trick of success this weekend when she lines up in Lower Austria for Challenge St Pölten.
Only a week after securing an emotional victory at ‘The Championship’ in Šamorín, the 30-year-old now has the chance to make it three from three on one of the most scenic yet demanding courses on the circuit.
It is a welcome return to form for Pohl, who won four of her nine races back in 2024, only to then go the whole of last year without recording a single win – the best she could muster was two runner-up finishes at the IRONMAN 70.3s in Kraichgau and Sweden.
Emotional win in Šamorín
However, it was her experience at the 2024 ‘The Championship’ which made for such an emotional return last week, as she was finally able to banish the demons of her calamitous blow-out when she collapsed just 800m from the finish line.
Last weekend, she made sure there was no repeat after taking the lead on a bike lap, where she obliterated the course record by three minutes, and then held on with a run performance that kept compatriot Lena Meissner and Katrine Græsbøll Christensen (DEN) at bay.
After the race in Šamorín, she wrote on her Instagram page: “This week has been a total rollercoaster of emotions. 🎢 Returning to the place where I had a total failure in 2024 and toppled 800m from the finish line got me more excited than I thought.
“I am so much happier to have found my peace today. 🙏 Thanks especially to my coach @benreszel, who once again spoke to me a lot of courage yesterday and pleaded for an offensive race plan.”
Challengers lay in wait
While she starts as the clear favourite again this weekend, there is enough talent in the St Pölten field to prevent her from maintaining that 100% win record, with seasoned contenders such as Diede Diederiks (NED), Anna Pabinger (AUT), and Lisa-Maria Dornauer (AUT) all posing a real threat.
The men’s race in St Pölten promises to be an equally thrilling showdown, featuring a deep, wide-open field where several athletes have a realistic shot at the top step of the podium.
German Finn Grossse-Freese will be the man to watch. At 38th in the world, he is the highest-ranked male athlete on course and is coming off a fifth place at Challenge Salou-Costa Daurada a couple of weeks ago.
He shares the spotlight with compatriot Frederic Funk, who crossed the line in seventh place last weekend in Šamorín and will be looking for a better performance this time around.
Meanwhile, dark horses Hannes Butters (GER) and Josh Lewis (GBR) are both highly capable of delivering standout performances and disrupting German dominance.
Challenge St Pölten takes place on Sunday, May 31, with the Pro Women starting at 07:00 local Central European time and the Pro Men setting off 20 minutes later. This equates to 06:00 in the UK, 22:00 the previous evening on the West Coast of the USA, midnight in Central USA, and 01:00 on the East Coast.
For more information on the race, click HERE.
