Great Dane Magnus Ditlev regained his Challenge Roth title and obliterated Jan Frodeno’s course record in the process.
The 6ft 4in 25-year-old from Virum, north of Copenhagen, finished in 7:24:40, with a 46:47 swim, course record 3:57:45 bike split and a 2:37:09 marathon, to take 11mins off Frodeno’s 2016 mark.
In a repeat of last year, Ditlev was once again chased to the finish line by Patrick Lange, as Germany’s 2021 champion produced the day’s fastest marathon of 2:30:27.
USA debutant Ben Kanute, in only his second full distance race, hung tough for an impressive third, with Joe Skipper running a 2:40:52 marathon as he fought his way back for fifth.
What happened in the swim?
It was the perfect day for triathlon, light winds and comfortable early morning temperatures as the pro fields and 3,500 age-groupers prepared for the 2.4-mile swim in the Rhine-Main-Danube canal.
American success had been rare at the event, but Kanute raised the spectre that it might change by leading out the swim in the company of a large front pack including Sam Laidlow, Daniel Bakkegard, Lange, Ditlev and Belgium's Pieter Heemeryck.
Leading British swimmer Kieran Lindars was just under a minute back, with Sebastian Kienle in his final appearance swimming 50mins and Skipper a further minute behind.
What happened on the bike?
As expected, PTO No 1 ranked cyclist, Ditlev, took charge immediately on the 112-mile bike course and hammering away at the front it was only Laidlow and Bakkegard who could stick with him.
Bakkegard fell away before halfway with a mechanical issue, as the chasers of Lange, Heemeryck and Kanute were trying to limit the damage as they fell 6min adrift.
Urged on by the bumper crowd, the famous Solar Hill was navigated twice and with Laidlow making the occasional foray to the front, the gap continude to grow.
By the time Ditlev and Laidlow reached T2, they were 12min clear, Ditlev posting an eye-opening sub-4hr split on the course with the Frenchman just seconds slower. It lowered the Dane’s own record of 4:01:56 by a further 4mins.
But with Lange still in the race and the German favourite immediately looking spritely as he dismounted to embark on his strongest discipline, the race wasn’t over.
Andreas Dreitz had worked his way up to fifth coming into T2, but was 15min down, wth Skipper valiantly persevering in sixth, a further minute back.
What happened on the run?
Ditlev and Laidlow started the marathon stride-by-stride and it stayed that way until 6 miles on the run, where Laidlow started to drop back.
The race would continue to get more difficult for last year’s Kona runner-up, as he stopped to stretch off his calf and was reduced to a walk.
Lange was trying to make inroads and by halfway had reduced the gap to just over 9mins to Ditlev, with Kanute just 2mins behind Lange and Bakkegard forcing his way back into podium contention after his bike issues.
As they came into town for the final part of the run, Ditlev still looked strong, but although Lange continued to chip away at the lead, the victory never looked in doubt.
Ditlev wasn't holding up as he entered the fanfare of the stadium to be embraced and congratulated by Frodeno before flaking out on the green carpet.
Challenge Roth men's pro results
1. Magnus Ditlev 7:24:40
2. Patrick Lange 7:30:04
3. Ben Kanute 7:37:01
4. Daniel Bakkegard 7:39:59
5. Joe Skipper 7:44:10
Top image credit: Christoph Raithel/Challenge Family
