The 2015 Ironman Asia Pacific Champion Melissa Hauschildt is now the 2016 Ironman European Champion after winning at Ironman Frankfurt overnight.
Hauschildt had battled injury and illness since winning the title in 2015 but in February this year rebounded with wins at Ironman 70.3 Geelong and Huskisson Long Course races.
Photo: Delly Carr
Fellow Aussie Dimity-Lee Duke put a strong race together to finish seventh on a day that threw up cold conditions that claimed Ironman World Champion Daniela Ryf. Unbeaten since this race last year Ryf couldn’t warm up after the non-wetsuit swim eventually withdrawing early into the bike.
Next generation triathletes Charlotte McShane and Jake Birtwhistle are sitting pretty on the WTS World Rankings after further encouraging performances in last night’s round in Stockholm.
The two Under 23 world champions, who narrowly missed selection on the Rio Olympic team, have continued their rankings rise after the sixth race of the nine-event WTS which culminates in the Grand Final in Cozumel in September.
“I knew the course quite well and it is just good to be able to finish strongly on the run after working hard on the bike – I cant wait for Hamburg,” said McShane.
The other Australian girls were Natalie Van Coevorden (15th), Emma Jackson (18th) and Gillian Backhouse (29th).
Birtwhistle again had to work on his back-end strengths, working his way through the field to finish 17th, but it was good enough to see him jump two spots into 12th place.
But it was Commonwealth Games comeback boy Dan Wilson who gave a good sight out of the water and onto the bike before his lack of running fitness took it’s toll on the 10km run to finish 32nd.
He will be better for the run as he prepares to join Olympians Bailie, Aaron Royle and Ryan Fisher in the next round in Hamburg.
At the Triathlon Holten ETU Premium European Cup Triathlon Emma Jeffcoat finished seventh among a strong European line up with fellow National Talent Academy athlete Sophie Malowiecki in 11th who was disappointed with her performance and happy to finish in one piece.
“Really happy with my continued progression and battle today all the way to the line amongst a tough quality field,” said Jeffcoat.
Luke Willian finished a strong sixth in a nail biting 8 person sprint finish with only 6 seconds separated them. Max Neumann ran on to finish 12th in a cold a wet race.
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