Challenge Roth 2026: Date, start time and how to watch two epic races live

Sunday in Germany sees the 25th edition (in its current guise) of Challenge Roth, one of triathlon’s biggest success stories.

In terms of full-distance racing, only the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona has more prestige – and even that can’t compare to the atmosphere, community and crowd support that we see every year in Bavaria, no wonder it calls itself the ‘home of triathlon’.

This year Roth say they are bringing together “Olympic champions, world champions, the defending champion and the world’s fastest long-distance athletes” and it’s hard to argue with any of that.

It’s a bucket list age-group event too which sells out within seconds each year.

There are always good storylines at Roth and Sunday’s races are no exception – will eight hours be beaten for the first time in a women’s race which pits Kat Matthews against late entry Lucy Charles-Barclay?

And who comes out on top in the men’s duel between Kristian Blummmenfelt and defending champ Sam Laidlow?

Those questions and many more will be answered this weekend, read on for our in-depth preview…

Start times, how to watch live and route

Challenge Roth takes place on Sunday 5 July 2026. 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.

Challenge Roth course

In terms of the course, it can be summed up in one word – fast.

There had never been a non-wetsuit swim until last year when due to unusually high temperatures, the water in the Danube-Main Canal reached 25.3°C.

Sound familiar? The water temperature was way higher than that at the start of this week after another heatwave across Europe and though it’s predicted to drop between now and race, there’s every chance we won’t have wetsuits again.

That will almost certainly slow down the times for the 3.8km swim – it was a huge front pack and around two minutes slower than normal in the men’s swim at IRONMAN Frankfurt last Sunday in the baking hot conditions.

The two-lap bike course is always speedy though – and there’s plenty of debate as to whether it measures the full 180km.

It 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

At the heart of the men’s race are three IRONMAN World Champions: Kristian Blummenfelt, Sam Laidlow and Patrick Lange.

Hometown hero Lange won here in 2021 while Laidlow produced a stunning comeback from injury to triumph here 12 months ago. But this is all new for Blummenfelt, who has won every other high-profile triathlon race that matters, including the Olympics.

He’s carried all before him this season too and given the utter domination of his training partners Casper Stornes and Gustav Iden at Frankfurt last weekend, it’s fair to presume that he’s in prime form.

Sam Laidlow Kristian Blummenfelt Challenge Roth pre race press conference 2026 — Sam Laidlow on the mic at the pre-race press conference [Photo credit: Challenge Roth | Challenge Family]

Last year’s runner-up Jonas Schomburg will be looking to throw a spanner in the works for the trio after his aggressive race in 2025.

And the appearance of Magnus Ditlev is a late curveball after he decided to head here after the shortened IRONMAN Frankfurt. He struggled there and has had a tough time of it recently but is all class and this is the scene of his greatest triumphs – he’s a three-time Roth winner (2022, 2023 and 2024) and current course record holder.

As you’d expect there’s a strong German contingent in addition to Lange.

Former IRONMAN 70.3 world champion Rico Bogen makes his long-distance debut in Roth. He is one of the most exciting up-and-coming athletes over the longer distance and adds an extra element of unpredictability to the race.

This time last year it was Fred Funk who was in the same position and he returns for more.

Finn Große-Freese, like Ditlev, has confirmed his participation in Roth at short notice following the race in Frankfurt. He won IRONMAN Copenhagen last year in 7:27:36, making him the German record holder for the long-distance triathlon.

The field features top international talent, including Will Draper, Kristian Høgenhaug, Arthur Horseau, Menno Koolhaas, Arnaud Guilloux, former Roth winner Andi Dreitz and the experienced American Ben Hoffman.

Pro Women

The headline duel among the women is Kat Matthews vs Lucy Charles-Barclay, with the latter a fantastic addition after defending champion Laura Philipp dropped out last week.

Matthews is in the Blummenfelt bracket – the reigning IRONMAN Pro Series champion but a Roth debutant and the woman with the best form in 2026.

However she is so far missing a world title and this could be a big stepping stone to one – or two – of those later this season.

Kat Matthews Challenge Roth pre race press conference 2026 — Kat Matthews was looking relaxed pre-race [Photo credit: Challenge Roth | Challenge Family]

Charles-Barclay is something of an unknown quantity right now in as much as she’s had just the one race this year after tendon surgery in January. That race in question saw her boss IRONMAN Lanzarote and the 2019 Roth champion wouldn’t be coming here if she didn’t think she could make her mark.

There will also be plenty of speculation as to whether the two Brits can push each other below eight hours.

You only have to rewind a few 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.

Alongside Charles-Barclay, another Roth winner will be on the start line. Daniela Bleymehl won in 2018, finishing nine seconds ahead of the British athlete. As a mother of three, she most recently impressed with a third-place finish at IRONMAN South Africa.

Caroline Pohle, another top German athlete, is making her long-distance debut in Roth. She has already racked up three middle-distance Challenge Family races this spring in St. Pölten, The Championship and Gran Canaria, and now aims to make her mark over the long distance as well.

Crowd favourites Alanis Siffert and Fenella Langridge both have podium experience in Roth but it will be fascinating to see how Daisy Davies goes on her Roth debut having won the European long-distance title at Challenge Almere-Amsterdam in her first full-distance race.