Germany’s Anne Reischmann made it back-to-back IRONMAN wins as she followed up last November’s victory in Cozumel with a hard-fought success in South Africa, which doubled as the African Championship.

She had ground to make up after the swim but timed her effort on the bike to perfection to reel in long-time leader and defending champion Marta Sanchez of Spain just before T2.

And even though the run was hard work for everyone as the wind dropped and the heat ramped up, Reischmann always looked to have things in control.

Sanchez produced a fine defence of her title to take second, with Katrine Græsbøll Christensen of Denmark in third. Here’s how it all played out…

Swim – Sanchez again but hard work

An indication of the testing nature of the swim at Nelson Mandela Bay came with Sanchez’s time.

Just as she had been 12 months previously, she was out on her own in front but her 57:28 was five minutes slower than last year.

That gave her a buffer of 1:34 over Chloe Lane (AUS), with Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN) third at 4:59. At this point Reischmann was in a group at eight minutes back.

Bike – Things go flat for Lane

As things settled down on the bike, Sanchez gradually extended her lead and at halfway it stood at just over three minutes over Lane and Reischmann who were vying for second.

But it was at that point that disaster struck for Lane in the form of a rear tyre puncture which – even with help from an age-group athlete and the official support crew – cost her more than 15 minutes and dumped her outside the top 10.

And it wasn’t until relatively late on the third and final loop that Reischmann began to really cut into Sanchez’s lead.

And the catch came just before T2, meaning that the German began the run with a lead of just over 30 seconds after a quicker transition.

Christensen of Denmark was third, five minutes back but well clear of the rest.

Run – Reischmann holds firm

On the first of four run loops Reischmann looked comfortable and took the gap over 90 seconds.

It was doubled to three minutes by halfway and then held firm but both women had to battle through some tough patches and with around 10km to go, Sanchez had cut the deficit to 2:19.

However Reischmann found extra reserves and was able to kick again and move her advantage back to close to the three-minute mark.

She crossed the line in 8:51:39, almost exactly three minutes to the good on Sanchez who was just over 20 minutes quicker compared to her 2024 win.

Christensen was another big improver from last year too, a further four minutes back as she rounded out the podium.

IRONMAN South Africa – African Championship 2025

Sunday March 30, 2025 – 3.8km / 180km / 42.2km

PRO Women

• 1. Anne Reischmann (GER) – 8:51:41 [1:05:28/4:43:31/2:59:15]
• 2. Marta Sanchez (ESP) – 8:54:58 [57:28/4:51:23/3:01:54]
• 3. Katrine Græsbøll Christensen (DEN) – 8:58:42 [1:07:49/4:45:45/3:01:09]
• 4. Laura Jansen (GER) – 9:14:17 [1:03:54/4:55:20/3:10:22]
• 5. Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN) – 9:15:09 [1:02:28/4:58:21/3:09:58]