Wellington World Record!

Chrissie Wellington broke the world record for the Iron-distance triathlon on Sunday in Roth, Germany. She recorded a time of 8:19:13hrs to beat her own previous mark by 12 minutes and 46 seconds, and won the Challenge Roth event by over half an hour from Australia’s Rebecca Keat.



Wellington, 33, is the reigning World Ironman Champion, having won the title for the third year in a row in Hawaii last October. She was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday honours list last month with an MBE and her performance today represented her ninth win from nine Iron-distance starts. She obliterated her 2009 world record of 8:31:59, which was also set in Roth.



Wellington’s marathon time of 2:48:54 after completing a 3800m swim and record breaking 112mile bike ride was the fastest ever achieved in an iron-distance triathlon.



She said: “I’m overjoyed, yet overwhelmed. Hopefully I have redefined the limits for myself, and for others, of what is possible. It has been one of the best days of my life. Challenge Roth epitomises everything that is great about triathlon.”



Meanwhile at the Dextro Energy ITU Triathlon World Championship Series Hamburg, Britain’s Vicky Holland was the surprise package in a five-way dash for the line. The 24 year old from Gloucester opened her season with 10th in Sydney, but her performance today was the best of her career and builds on her 4th place in the under 23 World Championships last year.



Sweden’s Lisa Norden won the event in a photo finish with World Champion Emma Moffatt of Australia. Holland was just 4 seconds behind in a final time of 1:53.57. Holland will race next weekend at the Dextro Energy ITU Triathlon World Championship Series London, presented by Tata Steel.



Britain’s Liz Blatchford was 18th and Vanessa Raw was 19th.



2010 Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series Hamburg

1. Lisa Norden (SWE) 01:53:53

2. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 01:53:53

3. Aileen Morrison (IRL) 01:53:55



Challenge Roth

1. Chrissie Wellington (GBR) 8:19:13

2. Rebekah Keat (AUS) 8:50:10

3. Tereza Macel (CZE) 9:09:29



Image: Claudia Weinig/Challenge Roth