IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz 2025: Olympic star wins by MORE than half an hour for first full-distance win

Switzerland’s Julie Derron threw down a real marker on only her second full-distance race when she claimed an utterly dominant wire-to-wire win at IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Basque Country in north-eastern Spain.

The Olympic silver medallist in Paris last year has made a sensational impact in middle-distance racing and earlier this season in San Francisco she inflicted a first-ever T100 defeat on reigning IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Taylor Knibb.

But it was a surprise when she announced she was stepping up to full distance for only the second time, having finished second at IRONMAN Italy back in 2022.

She could hardly have made a better impression though against a small but select field which included former IRONMAN World Champion Anne Haug (GER) and Marjolaine Pierre (FRA), who recently won a second World Triathlon Long Distance title.

Here’s how the race unfolded…

Swim – Lucas stays in touch

A water temperature of 21.7 degrees Celsius meant wetsuits were allowed for the swim in the calm waters of Ulibarri-Gamboa.

And Derron and British-born but UAE-based Lottie Lucas came out of the water almost together, the Swiss star just four seconds to the good.

Pierre was third at +2:39, with Haug next at +4:45 and it was then over seven minutes back to Mena Suter (SUI) in fifth.

Bike – One-way traffic

On the bike Derron hammered home her advantage over Lucas – she was 3:58 ahead after 25km and that was up to 5:12 after 52km.

The pattern continued – at 72km the gap was 8:16 but Haug had now ridden up to Lucas and would move into second soon after.

Reaching the 100km point was when Derron’s lead moved into double digits and it was 12 minutes at 144km before the gap finally started to come down.

Heading into T2 it was around 11 minutes as two of the finest runners in the sport settled down for the marathon.

Run – Haug drops out

It was Derron who was marginally faster in the early stages, clocking around 3:55/km pace to Haug’s 4:03.

But for reasons which are yet to be established, Haug’s first full-distance race of 2025 ended before the 10km point.

That all meant Derron’s lead was now 18 minutes ahead of Lucas and she went further and further clear – over half an hour to the good with 5km remaining.

Derron registered a 2:51:30 marathon for an overall time of 8:21:48 – and a slot for the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona this October if she wants it.

It was nearly 38 minutes later when Lucas crossed the line in second, with Pierre rounding out the podium in third.