Poland’s Marta Lagownik will be looking for some home rewards this weekend when she lines up for the latest Challenge race of the season in Gdansk.
Having secured three top-ten finishes so far in 2026, she will be looking for at least a podium when she dives into the Baltic Sea on Sunday and races on the streets and paths that she knows so well.
This will be her first showing on the Challenge tour this season, having finished fifth at IRONMAN 70.3 Valencia, ninth at 70.3 Pays d’Aix and eighth last time out at the full-distance IRONMAN Hamburg.
‘I can’t wait for the start’
She does, however, have an impressive pedigree when it comes to Challenge-branded racing, having won at Mogan-Gran Canaria in both 2024 and 2025, while also picking up a third at Almere; she finished fourth in her last appearance at Challenge Gdansk in 2023.
And she is clearly looking forward to the prospect of returning.
“I will be participating in a very special race @challengegdansk @challengefamily. ❤️ The swimming will be in the Baltic Sea. 🌊 Cycling section in Żuławy. Flat, windy and fast route. 🌬️ Run on the historical paths in Regan Park. 🌳 The race for me means more because it’s my home. My people, family, and my city. Gdańsk. 🏠 I can’t wait for the start! 🔥”
It won’t be easy for her, however, as she lines up against Italian Elisabetta Curridori, who can boast two wins already from her three races this year, including her success at Challenge Salou last month.
Curridori looking for her third win of 2026
Disappointed not to have achieved a podium in Samorin at The Championship, where she finished fourth behind Caroline Pohle (GER), Lena Meissner (GER), and Katrine Græsbøll Christensen (DEN), Curridori will be aiming for better in Poland.
Holding a significantly higher ranking than both Curridori (#53) and Lagownik (#56) is British athlete Rebecca Anderbury (#39), who secured a strong fourth place at IRONMAN Lanzarote last month.
Indeed, she is the highest-ranked athlete in the field and will no doubt have a big red target on her back as the woman to beat. Other dangerous outsiders on the starting list include Marta Bernardi (ITA) and Magda Nieuwoudt (SAF).
On the men’s side, Serbian Ognjen Stojanovic will be looking to build on both his fifth-place finish at IRONMAN Brazil and tenth at The Championship as he looks for his first Challenge win since crossing first at Xiamen in 2024.
Success in Gdansk without actually winning
He has enjoyed some success in Gdansk, however, taking second behind Poland’s Kacper Stepniak in 2023 and finishing fourth in 2024.
Just like in the women’s race, there are plenty of dangerous outsiders in the men’s field who could make things difficult for Stojanovic, with the British duo of Tom Davis and Andrew Horsfall-Turner likely to challenge alongside Florent Lefebvre (FRA) and Trent Thorpe (NZL).
Horsfall-Turner is looking to kick-start his season once again after suffering a difficult DNF at IRONMAN South Africa when it looked as though he was in a position to challenge for a well-deserved podium place.
Having reset 2026, he has a series of races now to get stuck into in quick succession, starting with Challenge Gdansk.
‘I was having a good race… until I wasn’t’
“I have actually only raced once this year. I went out to IRONMAN South Africa, and I was having a really, really good race… until I wasn’t,” he says on a recent Instagram video.
“I was actually in second pretty much all day, got off the bike in third, and I got to about 16-17k on the marathon, and as anyone who has done an IRONMAN will know, sometimes things that are out of your control will happen, and my stomach decided that my day was done.
“I am actually, kind of, restarting my season now. This Sunday, I will be racing in Gdansk, Poland, in the Challenge Gdansk race, and then in a couple of weeks, we have 70.3 Swansea, and then the week after, I am going to race 70.3 Gdynia, which is a nice mini racing block in the middle of the year.”
