Star power in Roth - the fastest long-distance pros reunited at the Home of Triathlon
Tight race expected / Ditlev, Lange, Haug and Philipp lead a broad professional field/ 55 professional male athletes and 32 professional female athletes on the start
ROTH. DATEV Challenge Roth on 7 July promises to be another fast race. The best triathlon professionals in the world will battle for the Roth crown in both the men's and women's fields.
Lange vs. Ditlev or ?
After his world best time last year, Magnus Ditlev will certainly return to the scene of his greatest successes as the favourite. He has already shown top form early on this year, winning the T100 race in Miami. Ditlev has won both of his ROTH starts in 2022 and 2023 ahead of Patrick Lange. Lange won at his Roth debut in 2021 and is once again in with a good chance of a top placing at the Mecca of triathlon.
The other competitors are also extremely strong and promise a close race for the title at DATEV Challenge Roth 2024.
The American, Rudy von Berg, could play a major role in the race for victory. The 30-year-old is a three-time Ironman winner and also caused a stir with fourth place at the last Ironman World Championship in Nice. The same also applies to Leon Chevalier.
The Frenchman finished a strong fifth at his home Ironman World Championship in Nice and then won the Ironman Cozumel a short time later.
Triathlon fans in Roth can once again look forward to Daniel Bækkegård competing. The Dane narrowly missed out on the podium in fourth place on his Roth debut in 2023. With a finish time of 7:39:59, the 27-year-old showed his exceptional talent at last year's DATEV Challenge Roth.
The second Frenchman in the professional field is Clement Mignon. He became ITU long-distance world champion in May 2023 at the age of 24 and finished in the top ten at the last Ironman World Championship.
Belgian Pieter Heemeryck will also be a force to be reckoned with. He is ranked seventh in the PTO rankings and won Ironman Portugal in October, among others.
Jan Stratmann could provide a German surprise. The 28-year-old showed all his skills over the middle distance in particular and finished third at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship last year.
The fastest German women of all time
Anne Haug only joined the start list in Roth last Monday. The Bayreuth native won DATEV Challenge Roth in 2021 and 2022 and finished second last year. Her start should significantly change the race dynamics. The 41-year-old proved she is in top form this year at Ironman Lanzarote. She won there with a gala performance and a 43-minute lead. She broke the course record by 20 minutes.
With Laura Philipp, Haug has the strongest competition from her own country. The Heidelberg native celebrated a strong Roth debut with third place and an outstanding time of 8:25:31 in 2023. Laura Philipp also made it onto the podium at Ironman Hawaii 2023. With a best time of 8:18:20, she holds the current Ironman best time and is only seven seconds behind Chrissie Wellington's twelve-year world best time