Belgium’s Hanne De Vet notched the biggest win of her career to date as she powered to victory in Challenge Family’s The Championship, their middle-distance showpiece event with a total prize purse of €100,000.
She moved into contention on the bike but it wasn’t until the run when she took the lead and left her rivals trailing, crossing the line in 3:48:56.
That was just over a minute in front of Britain’s Daisy Davies, with Anastacia Nielsen (DEN) nearly five minutes back in third.
Swim – Perez Sala shows the way
The mixed weather in Slovakia meant the swim was shortened to 750 metres as the water temperature was below World Triathlon rules for 1.9km.
But shortened swim or not, it was no surprise to see Sara Perez Sala (ESP) lead it out.
She was followed by Davies but Perez Sala’s narrow advantage was eroded when she lost some nutrition and hydration after falling in transition.
Bike – Late move proves decisive
That meant Davies led early on the bike, with De Vet now up to second at around 30 seconds behind, with Nielsen in third.
By now the rain had started falling again and the wind had picked up so they were challenging conditions for all athletes.
Up front we now had a four-strong group as Chloe Sparrow (GBR) had joined that trio but by the time they arrived at T2, Davies and De Vet had put the hammer down and taken two minutes out of the others.
Run – De Vet surges clear
Starting the run there was nothing between Davies and De Vet and it was Davies who made the early move to open up a 20-second advantage.
However De Vet was back on her shoulder at the halfway point and eased clear soon after, with the title surely going to one of them as it was three minutes and more back to the rest.
There were still only a handful of seconds between the front two starting the third and final 7km lap but it was from then on that De Vet took charge.
And when the line came De Vet had extended her lead just just over a minute on Davies as both notched significant results, well ahead of Nielsen in third.
A quickest of the day 1:17:43 half marathon from Elisabetta Curridori (ITA) saw her move up to fourth, with Alanis Siffert (SUI) in fifth.
Post-race reaction
“I felt good but put to put all three disciplines together is always hard, but today was apparently the day!” said De Vet afterwards.
“I felt Davies and I were quite fast and I knew that I had to get into my rhythm and not stress too much early on. I was catching her second by second and I felt like I was doing a good job but I didn’t want to get too excited too early and the last 10km she kept on the pressure so it definitely was not easy!
“It’s really cool to win an event like this, it’s been on my bucket list for a long time so to put everything together like this is unbelievable.”
Challenge Family The Championship 2025 results
Sunday May 18, 2025 – 750m / 90km / 21.1km
PRO Women
- 1. Hanne De Vet (BEL) – 3:48:56 [9:03 / 2:16:02 / 1:18:22]
- 2. Daisy Davies (GBR) – 3:50:09 [8:58 / 2:15:56 / 1:19:57]
- 3. Anastacia Nielsen (DEN) – 3:53:46 [9:47 / 2:17:28 / 1:20:54]
- 4. Elisabetta Curridori (ITA) – 3:55:05 [9:45 / 2:20:35 / 1:17:43]
- 5. Alanis Siffert (SUI) – 3:57:31 [9:14 / 2:21:10 / 1:21:24]
