Swiss triathletes Imogen Simmonds and Julie Derron narrowly miss out on the podium at the World Championships over the half Ironman 70.3 distance. They finished 4th and 5th in New Zealand.
14.12.2024, 08:27
14.12.2024, 09:00
SDA
In a top-class field, Simmonds was well on her way to winning a third world championship medal after 2019 and last year (when she took bronze). After a 1.9 km swim and 90 km on the bike, the middle and long-distance specialist took second place on the final 21.1 km run, but then had to let two of her rivals overtake her. With a time of 4:05:12 hours, she was a good two and a half minutes off the podium.
Julie Derron crossed the finish line 50 seconds behind Simmonds in fifth place. The Olympic silver medalist from Paris missed out on a better result on the bike course when she lost almost four minutes to her compatriot.
Taylor Knibb was once again crowned world champion. The 25-year-old American defended her title over the middle distance for the second time in a row. Daniela Ryf also achieved this feat from 2017 to 2019. The woman from Solothurn, who retired in August, is the record world champion in Ironman 70.3 with five world titles.
