Impressive performance by Magnus Ditlev (DEN) to claim victory at 2020 Enea IRONMAN 70.3 Gdynia while Lisa Norden (SWE) completed a Scandinavian doublet leading the female field from swim to finish. Poland welcomed athletes with extraordinary safety measures during the first IRONMAN racing weekend since lockdown.
Many others could be seen as potential podium finishers but hardly anyone expected Magnus Ditlev to challenge the favorites. 23-year-old Dane came out of water on 18th place but roughly 40 seconds behind the leader. However, what he did on the first, uphill part of the bike course was simply beyond belief. He hammered extremely strong taking the lead quickly and building the gap up to over 6 minutes in T2 before he took on the 2-loop run course leading around the city centre and sea boulevards in Gdynia. He indeed paid a price for this crazy bike ride on the run, having a chasing group of Jan Stratmann (GER), Robert Kallin (SWE), Thomas Davis (GBR) and Patrick Lange attacking from the 10th place after bike. The two-time IRONMAN world champion finally made it to the podium, finishing third in 3:45:50, over 3 minutes behind Ditlev (3:42:37). Thomas Davis took 2nd place in 3:44:57.
Women’s race was more one-sided with Lisa Norden setting her own pace that proved to be too much for her competition. She finished the swim in 26:23 and continued with a very strong bike, averaging 39,75 km/h on a hilly course outside Gdynia. Her quest for victory was completed with a 1:31:43 half marathon. Behind her back, Carolin Lehrieder (GER) finished second in 4:23:45 while Kimberley Morrison (GBR) took the third podium spot.
MALE PRO:
1 Magnus Ditlev DNK 3:42:37
2 Thomas Davis GBR +2:20
3 Patrick Lange GER +3:13
4 Robert Kallin SWE +3:24
5 Jan Stratmann GER +4:20
FEMALE PRO:
1 Lisa Norden SWE 4:19:15
2 Carolin Lehrieder GER +4:30
3 Kimberley Morrison GBR +10:27
4 Joanna Soltysiak POL +10:50
5 Ewa Komander POL +10:52