This is a preview of the race – click on the names to read about spectacular wins for Laura Philipp and Sam Laidlow.
Sunday in Germany (July 6) sees the 41st edition of Challenge Roth, one of triathlon’s biggest success stories.
It sells out within seconds each year, attracts stellar pro fields which often produce record-breaking performances – and over 300,000 fans come to join an incredibly welcoming and enthusiastic local community that make it one of the sport’s most iconic events.
And this year is no exception – ‘World champions, Roth winners, Olympians’ is how the organisers are billing it and rightly so as there’s a good story everywhere you look.
The headline around the women is likely to be whether home favourite Laura Philipp becomes the first female to break the mythical eight hours mark. You only have to rewind a couple of years to when we were asking whether Chrissie Wellington’s long-standing fastest mark of 8:18:13 would ever be broken, but look what’s happened since.
Daniela Ryf did indeed eclipse Wellington’s time here in 2023 – and in some style – but her new record lasted all of 12 months before Anne Haug, at this same event, obliterated it with an 8:02:38 for a new fastest-ever women’s time.
But what we saw at IRONMAN Hamburg just last month was in the same bracket – a battle royale between Philipp and Kat Matthews, with the German superstar coming out on top in a time of 8:03:13.
Can she knock just over three minutes off that? We’ll know soon enough – read on to find out more, including who she’s up against and how you can watch it right here.
And for the men while there may be no Magnus Ditlev, who has dominated here for the last three years, it’s the full-distance debuts of short course legend Vincent Luis, Aaron Royle, Henri Schoeman and Frederic Funk which catch the eye. As well as the welcome race return of 2023 IRONMAN World Champion Sam Laidlow.
Start times, how to watch live and route
Challenge Roth takes place on Sunday, July 6 2024. The event is being broadcast live – and we’ve embedded the stream for you below – with commentary from Belinda Granger and former champion and all-round legend Sebastien Kienle.
The pro men start at 06:30 local time (CET), which corresponds to 0530 in the UK and 0030 Eastern time (2130 PST Saturday on the West Coast). The pro women start seven minutes later at 06:37.
The Challenge Family website also provides timing data, leaderboards, text updates, images and more so is the ideal second screen addition to the broadcast images.
In terms of the course, it can be summed up in one word – fast.
The 3.8km swim in the canal is always wetsuit-only and there’s no real current, the two-lap bike course does feature the odd punchy climb – including Tour de France-like crowds on Solar Hill – but they are more than offset by gradual descents on perfect road surfaces. And then the run is largely on a forgiving gravel track along the canal.
Pro Men
Magnus Ditlev has absolutely bossed this in the last three years in record-breaking fashion but it looks wide open in his absence.
Sam Laidlow (FRA), the brilliant winner of the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice two years ago, tops the bill but this is the first step on the comeback trail for him as he’s been blighted by injuries and issues ever since the IMWC in Hawaii last October and hasn’t raced since then.
He went toe to toe with Ditlev here in 2023 on the bike and early part of the run but has suggested he will be much more conservative on Sunday as he works his way back to full fitness.
Last year’s runner-up to Ditlev was Tom Bishop (GBR) in one of the big surprises of the season and he returns looking to go one better. Also back is fourth-placed Jan Stratmann (GER).
Ditlev’s fellow Dane Daniel Bækkegård was fourth in 2023 and is a late entrant after showing up well at IRONMAN Frankfurt last week until stomach issues stopped him in his tracks early on the run.
At the front of that race – until his aero bar setup literally fell off – was Jonas Schomburg (GER) on what was his full-distance debut. He too makes a quick detour to Roth and was in fine form at the press conference when he said: “I always like to be in the front and I believe I can beat Magnus’s time!”
American Matt Hanson proves that it’s never too late to make your Roth debut at the age of 40. And we’ve got a former winner here in the shape of Andi Dreitz (GER), with Jesper Svensson (SWE), who was runner-up to him back in 2019, also in the line up. And 2017 victor Bart Aernouts is racing for the final time at Roth as a pro on Sunday.
Joe Skipper (GBR) is looking to get things back on track and has several top-five placings here at Roth but the real intrigue comes from those trying a full-distance race for the first time.
Top of the list is Frenchman Vincent Luis, a two-time short-course World Champion and a three-time Olympian. He’s already won at middle distance and chose Roth because he watched his father compete here 20 years ago and fell in love with the race.
Like Luis, Aaron Royle (AUS) and Henri Schoeman (RSA) are also Olympians making their full-distance bows.
From a German perspective, Fred Funk’s long-distance debut is also eagerly awaited and he said at Thursday’s press conference: “I’ve never looked forward to any race like this one.” He too has history with Roth having competed in his very first triathlon 22 years ago at Junior Challenge Roth!
Pro Women
As we said at the start, all eyes will be on reigning IRONMAN World Champion Laura Philipp (GER).
This comes not much more than a month after that brutal Hamburg battle with Matthews but she didn’t start her season until just before that so will hopefully still be in great shape.
“I don’t know if it will be me, but going sub-8 is a big step that we, women in triathlon, will take soon and the thought of being the first woman to achieve that is motivating,” she said in the build up.
She is the standout favourite for the win and on form is likely to be racing solo for much of the day.
Nikki Bartlett was a brilliant fifth behind Philipp at the Ironman World Championship in Nice and is hoping to vie for the top spots on Sunday, saying: “My dream would be to have an Erdinger shower over the women and my head on the podium!”
Alanis Siffert is a rapidly-emerging talent from Switzerland. She won four middle-distance races last year and in her long-distance debut at Ironman New Zealand on 1 March she was sixth. Can she step up on that?
Australian Grace Thek is another who has made her mark at middle distance and now moves up in distance for the first time.
Justine Mathieux (FRA) finished third at Ironman Cozumel, one of five full-distance podiums, and will be looking to add to that on what is her Roth debut.
And we’ve got to mention Laura Siddall (GBR) who competes in Roth as a professional once more. It’s fantastic to see her racing here again after a challenging time and she said: “It will be something special to celebrate with all the locals, my host family, the volunteers, the team and the region, who have become friends during the nine years I’ve been here.”
Recent Winners in Roth
- 2024: Magnus Ditlev (DEN) / Anne Haug (GER)
- 2023: Magnus Ditlev (DEN) / Daniela Ryf (SUI)
- 2022: Magnus Ditlev (DEN) / Anne Haug (GER)
- 2021: Patrick Lange (GER) / Anne Haug (GER)
- 2019: Andreas Dreitz (GER) / Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR)
- 2018: Sebastian Kienle (GER) / Daniela Bleymehl (GER)
- 2017: Bart Aernouts (BEL) / Daniela Ryf (SUI)
- 2016: Jan Frodeno (GER) / Daniela Ryf (SUI)
- 2015: Nils Frommhold (GER) / Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED)
Prize Money: What’s on the line?
The prize purse on offer this weekend is EUR 160,200, a significant increase from previous years.
The two winners will each take home €30,000.
