German duo Anne Haug and Laura Philipp both confessed they understood Daniela Ryf was all however uncatchable at Challenge Roth well prior to she stopped the clock in 8:08:21 to set an amazing brand-new record for a full-distance race.
Swiss star Ryf remained in a class of her own as she completed along with leader Fenella Langridge in the swim prior to leaving the remainder of the field in her wake on the bike to offer herself a cushion of more than 13 minutes on the run.
‘It actually feels like a win’
Haug, the dazzling winner of the last 2 editions of Roth, was at that point 20 minutes down and even with her disastrous running capability that was definitely excessive versus a professional athlete of Ryf’s calibre.
And so it showed in spite of a 2:44 marathon from Haug who said: “I got some split times on the bike and she was already 15 minutes ahead so I presumed she’d had an excellent swim also.
“Getting into T2 it was up to 20 minutes and I knew then she was gone so for me it was about fighting for second place and it actually feels like a win because that became my goal.”
And writing on Instagram she added: “What an excellent race, what an atmosphere, what a startfield and what an incredible world record from Daniela Ryf. She was from an other planet.
“Very happy with my second place, because I gave it all I had and couldn’t have squeezed out a single second more. Congrats to Roth-rookie Laura Philipp for a tough battle and third place.”
‘Inspired’ by new world record
There were similar sentiments from Philipp after her Roth debut as she told Jan Frodeno on the TV broadcast: “I think today was another example of never giving up.
“First, I thought, okay, I have a fourth place today. I mean, with Chelsea [Sodaro] and Anne running so strong. But, yeah, it shows that at the end, you have to keep it together for the whole marathon. And I think at the end, I paced myself a little better than Chelsea, unfortunately for her, but still she really pushed it on the run.
“The whole back and forth out there, the dynamic on the marathon – I mean, wow.
“It was good fun, but I was also very happy that I made it to the finish line!”
And composing on Instagram afterwards, she explained: “I lost touch with the leaders during the swim and I also had to go through a lean period on the bike.
The fantastic spectators made sure that it turned out to be a good day after all.
“I am happy about my performance and truly inspired by Daniela’s brand-new world record, the course, the viewers and simply whatever about this race!
“Can’t wait to return with hopefully better legs.”
