Nicola Spirig, Frederic Funk Reign at Challenge Kaiserwinkl-Walchsee
Using this race as an Olympic prep, Olympic gold and silver medalist Nicola Spirig looks to be in podium shape with a 5:03 margin of victory over Ironman World Champion Anne Haug at the Middle-Distance Challenge Kaiserwinkl-Walchsee Sunday in Austria.
On a recent winning streak, Fredric Funk of Germany outpaced Thomas Steger of Austria by 1:55 at the middle-distance Challenge Kaiserwinkl-Walchsee.
Women
Spirig began her day with a women’s second-best 26:12 swim split that gave her a 2 seconds deficit to Para Perez Sala of Spain and 2:55 lead on Haug. Spirig put her stamp on the race with a dominating 2:11:55 bike split that was 3:12 faster than Haug’s second-fastest split that gave her a 6:29 lead starting the run. While Haug made a run at the win with a race-best 1:15:34 run, that split only gained back 1:36 from Spirig and left the Swiss champion with a 5:03 margin of victory over the German Ironman champion.
Men
Frederic Funk of Germany continued his winning streak with an impressive win at Challenge Kaiserwinkl-Walchsee. Christophe de Keyser led the swim by a small margin over a large pack that included Funk and Giulio Molinari of Italy.
Funk surged to the lead halfway through the bike, joined by former pro cyclist Ruben Zepuntke. That duo arrived at T2 with a three minutes lead on Molinari and five-minutes on Austria’s Thomas Steger.
On his way to a 6th-best 1:13:38 run split, Funk cruised home in 3:36:56 for a 1:55 margin of victory over Thomas Steger of Austria. Steger managed to secure 2nd place with a race-best 1:08:35 half marathon to hold off Belgium’s Bart Aernouts, who ran 1:10:34 to round out the podium.
Challenge Kaiserwinkl-Walchsee
Kaiserwinkl-Walchsee, Austria
June 27, 2021
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Women
1. Nicola Spirig (SUI) S 26:12 T1 1:22 B 2:11:55 T2 1:19 R 1:17:10 TOT 3:58:00
2. Anne Haug (GER) S 29:07 T1 1:44 B 2:15:07 T2 1:28 R 1:15:34 TOT 4:03:03
3. Marta Bernardi (ITA) S 29:30 T1 1:49 B 2:17:09 T2 1:34 R 1:19:49 TOT 4:09:53
4. Anne Reischmann (GER) S 30:37 T1 1:37 B 2:16:22 T2 1:30 R 1:21:55 TOT 4:12:01
5. Sara Perez Sala (ESPO) S 26:10 T1 1:28 B 2:18:26 T2 1:38 R 1:24:44 TOT 4:12:28
6. Giorgia Priarone (ITA) S 29:47 T1 1:45 B 2:20:09 T2 1:20 R 1:20:16 TOT 4:13:19
7. Lena Berlinger (GER) S 29:57 T1 1:36 B 2:16:58 T2 1:30 R 1:24:16 TOT 4:14:19
8. Laura Jansen (GER) S 29:29 T1 1:29 B 2:20:34 T2 1:50 R 1:21:53 TOT 4:15:15
9. Diede Diederiks (NED) S 30:59 T1 1:44 B 2:19:27 T2 1:22 R 1:25:18 TOT 4:18:52
10. Simone Kumhofer (AUT) S 34:29 T1 2:19 B 2:21:03 T2 1:33 R 1:20:30 TOT 4:19:455
Men
1. Frederic Funk (GER) S 24:38 T1 1:26 b 1:55:44 T2 1:28 R 1:13:38 TOT 3:36:56
2. Thomas Steger (AUT) S 26:06 T1 1:35 B 2:01:00 T2 1:33 R 1:08:35 TOT 3:38:51
3. Bart Aernouts (BEL) S 28:53 T1 1:35 B 1:59:40 T2 1:21 R 1:10:34 TOT 3:42:05
4. Ruben Zepunkte (GER) S 25:20 T1 1:35 B 1:54:32 T2 1:23 R 1:18:54 TOT 3:42:09
5. Gregory Barnaby (ITA) S 24:30 T1 1:39 B 2:02:56 T1 1:2 R 1:13:13 TOT 3:43:38
6. Giulio Molinari (ITA) S 24:42 T1 1:34 B 1:59:06 T2 1:36 R 1:17:56 TOT 3:44:57
7. Lukas Kokar (CZE) S 25:41 T1 1:18 B 2:03:37 T2 1:18 R 1:13:59 TOT 3:46:02
8. Julian Erhardt (GER) S 26:02 T1 1:13 B 2:05:58 T2 1:38 R 1:11:25 TOT 3:46:19
9. Nicolas Mann (GER) S 24:38 T1 1:24 B 2:03:01 T2 1:24 R 1:15:56 TOT 3:46:26
10. Alexey Kalistratov (RUS) S 26:05 T1 1:51 B 2:05:19 T2 1:17 R 1:12:23 TOT 3:46:57
