Britain’s Chrissie Wellington broke the world record yesterday for the iron- distance triathlon in Roth, Germany.
Wellington beat her own previous best-recorded time by 12 minutes and 46 seconds to record a staggering time of 8 hours 19 minutes and 13 seconds.
Wellington, who won the challenge in Roth by over 30 minutes from Australia’s Rebbecca Kent, is the reigning World Ironman Champion. She 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 in Roth represented her ninth win from nine iron-distance starts.
The previous record, set in Roth in 2009 was a time of 8:31:59 – which Wellington smashed by well over ten minutes.
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Wellington’s recorded time for the 26.2 mile marathon of 2:48:54 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.”
“For once I’m lacking the words to describe how I feel. I never thought that I would be able to break my own world record, and to do it has made me so incredibly happy and proud. I really didn’t think that I could break the world record, but I’ve shown now that truly anything is possible. I’m so happy.”
Wellington, a former Government worker, had been investigating the option of trying to qualify for Britain’s cycling team at the London 2012 Olympics because the ironman is not part of the Games.
She had injured herself seriously at the start of the year when she crashed while cycling.
Wellington may still look towards London 2012 after redefining ironman.
She said: ”We’re narrowing the gap between the men and women, and that’s really important. I never thought 8:19 was possible. Hopefully that’s helped to promote triathlon and promote the growth of women in sport and that’s something that I’m really proud to do.”
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 opened her season with 10th in Sydney, but her performance yesterday 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.
Poppy Bending Beckett, Sportsister,
The Women’s Sports Magazine
