2024 Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun | Results
It started with another top-class swim for the 28-year-old German athlete who, unlike last weekend, had some company with the likes of Lauren Brandon, Lena MeiBner, and Rebecca Clarke… but it wasn't for long.
After T1 she went straight to the front, bringing with her Lena MeiBner for a little while, but it wouldn’t be long before she was all on her own. Despite the fact that she didn't necessarily increase her gap on the bike on everyone as she did in Tallinn, it was enough to hold off the advantage she had on her toughest competitors from the swim. That gap also proved to be enough on the run as she pulled off another brilliant all-around day, holding off a fast-running Grace Thek who had overtaken Laura Madsen in the last Kilometer to take second.
Pohle will move up close to the top 10 of the PTO World Rankings after this one and has clearly validated her well-deserved wildcard slot for Ibiza T100 in four weeks. There's no doubt we will always see her feature in this level of race in the future but will it be good enough at that highest caliber against the best of the best?
Caroline Pohle | 04:17:24
Grace Thek | 04:18:583
Laura Madsen | 04:19:23
Ellie Salthouse | 04:20:57
Els Visser | 04:21:29
Starting off with a comfortable eighth place out of the water, 23-year-old Mika Noodt was looking at home in a large front group before he decided to make a big move going up a large climb. It broke the entire group, leaving only himself and Jelle Geens capable of such a pace up the grade. After that climb, however, Noodt made move number two to break Geens and leave the rest of the field to admire at his prowess on two wheels.
His gap just increased and increased before he came off the bike with over a four-and-a-half-minute lead. This broke the bike course record with ease and left the likes of uber-cyclist Robert Kallin most likely wondering how he could possibly get out-biked by five minutes after his recent bike splits.
Noodt was then able to pace an effortless half marathon on the spectacular course to take his first win of the year and set him up for a similarly big challenge as Pohle at Ibiza T100 at the end of the month. Geens went a step higher than last week in Tallinn while fellow former short course athlete Gregor Payet picked up a stellar podium in a strong field.
Mika Noodt | 03:46:04
Jelle Geens | 03:51:09
Gregor Payet | 03:51:59
Tom Hug | 03:52:18
Jan Stratmann | 03:53:34
