Anne Haug set an incredible new standard in the history of women’s full-distance triathlon racing by clocking the fastest time ever for the distance at Challenge Roth on Sunday (July 7, 2024).
The 41-year-old German superstar took almost six minutes of the time set by Daniela Ryf just 12 months ago with a quite spellbinding exhibition of long-course racing.
Last June, Ryf had taken down the incredible mark set by Chrissie Wellington back in 2011 as she roared to an epic Roth victory in a time of 8:08:21. Few imagined that it would be lowered in such devastating fashion, so soon after.
Kristian Blummenfelt still holds the fastest ever time clocked over the Ironman distance, though it did come with the aid of a down-current swim in Cozumel in 2021. Magnus Ditlev has now twice come close to lowering that mark in Roth, in both 2023 and 2024.
Who holds the fastest Ironman distance time?
The current fastest times ever for the iron distance (2.4 mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run) are now currently held by the aforementioned Haug and Blummenfelt.
Here is how they were set:
Women – Anne Haug 8:02:38
There was genuine shock and awe in the triathlon world when Ryf had smashed that 12-year-old Wellington mark in 2023, so imagine the reaction to this incredible 2024 supershow from Haug.
The former IRONMAN World Champion started her day with a 52:37 swim, a couple of minutes slower than Ryf in 2023, but she stayed in with a big chance of beating that sensational time by blasting through the bike leg with a brilliant 4:27:58.
Haug’s forte of course is the run, nobody is as fleet of foot at the end of an Ironman race as the German star, and here she absolutely aced it in front of her adoring home crowd.
Anne surged to a quite unbelievable marathon time of 2:38:52 to roar home to a victory which defies all known superlatives.
Men – Kristian Blummenfelt 7:21:12
When Blummenfelt rocked up in Cozumel for his first ever Ironman, the noises from his camp were positive. Coach and sports scientist Olav Oleksander Bu said “something cool” was on the cards on the back of his preparation in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Spain, and that might have been an understatement.
The Norwegian Olympic Champion was expected to win, but very few people expected him to obliterate the previous fastest time ever – the 7:27:53 set by Jan Frodeno in his Tri Battle Royal vs Lionel Sanders in July 2021. No wonder even Frodeno described Kristian as “next level” after this performance.
Blummenfelt was second out of the water in a a blistering 39:41, partly thanks to a little assistance from the current off the Mexican coast.
The Norwegian then set about continuing his bistering pace on the bike despite the heavy rain which had left the course in a very tricky condition. The result – another lightning-quick split of 4:02:40.
With Blummenfelt’s only rival for victory, Sweden’s Patrik Nilsson, having fallen away during the latter stages of the bike Kristian was left to battle only the Mexican elements for the remainder of his bid – temperatures of 27 degrees and 81 percent humidity.
Not even those sticky conditions could deter Blummenfelt, who surged clear to win the race by a street, and in a new fastest ever ironman time of 7:21:12.
He had closed the show with a 2:35:24 marathon – astonishing coming off what he’d previously achieved in the water and on the bike.
Dane Magnus Ditlev now owns the second and third fastest times ever for a race over the full Ironman distance after his incredible performances to win Challenge Roth in 2023 and 2024. He came home in a blistering 7:24:40 in 2023 and 7:23:24 in 2024.
