Laura Philipp Defends Her European Champion Title and Sets a World Best at The IRONMAN® European Championship Hamburg

June 8, 2022

Laura Philipp (GER), wins IRONMAN European Championship Hamburg in 08:18:20, with Chelsea Sodaro (USA) securing second place, and Manon Genet (FRA) in third

Hamburg, Germany/ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – More than 2000 professional female athletes and female and male age group athletes celebrated the fifth edition of the IRONMAN European Championship Hamburg today. A day which saw Laura Philipp (GER) become crowned IRONMAN European Champion, with the fastest time a woman has ever completed a full distance IRONMAN® triathlon race, just one week after winning IRONMAN 70.3 Kraichgau powered by KraichgauEnergie.

Bright sunshine ensured excellent conditions at the fifth edition of the IRONMAN European Championship Hamburg. The race began with a beautiful swim start at Hamburg’s Jungfernstieg, where the athletes swam 3.8 km through the Alster. Chelsea Sodaro (USA), Laura Philipp (GER), Manon Genet (FRA) and Chantal Sainter (GBR) fought a neck-and-neck race, with all four leaving the water of the Alster in around 54 minutes.

The 180 km long bike course took the athletes through Hamburg’s city centre along the city’s best sights such as the Reeperbahn, Fischmarkt and Hafen, and out into the green surroundings of the Marschland and Vierlande in the south-east of Hamburg. Laura Philipp was able to extend the lead on the bike course and finished the first 90km lap around 3 minutes ahead of Chelsea Sodaro, who was able to keep up with Laura Philipp on the second 90km and arrived at the transition with a comfortable lead over French Manon Genet before starting on the run course. Co-favourite and last year’s second Renee Kiley (AUS) had to pull out of the race on the second lap due to a flat tire.

The run course consisted of a marathon with 4 laps along the Alster in the heart of downtown Hamburg.  On the run course, Laura Philipp was able to extend her lead lap by lap and finally crossed the finish line on the Hamburg Rathausmarkt in a fantastic time of 8:18.20.  “After taking a short break from testing positive for Covid­­-19 at the IRONMAN World Championship, the IRONMAN 70.3 Kraichgau powered by KraichgauEnergie was my test race last week. After last week’s victory,  I thought that I could do a full distance, but I never expected that the race could be so fast,” said Laura Philipp after the race. “It was a great atmosphere on the course, the spectators were incredible and literally carried me to the finish.”

“I am extremely proud that I was able to complete my first IRONMAN so successfully and never expected to finish in such a fast time,” said Chelsea Sodaro, who placed second, after the race. “Before I started my IRONMAN adventure, I had huge expectations and I am very happy that everything went so well today. I’ve learned a lot and there are definitely some things that I can improve on and so I am even more motivated and can’t wait to tackle my next race.”

Oliver Schiek, Managing Director of IRONMAN Germany GmbH said “It was great that we were able to follow such an exciting race today in this dream weather and to watch Laura Philipp making history by setting a world best in an IRONMAN race. The top four women all finished in less than 9 hours, which again underlines just how strong our professional field was today. A special thank you goes to the city of Hamburg and our partners, without whose support the realization of the event would not have been possible.”

Preliminary results of the top 5 women

1. Laura Philipp (GER) 08:18.20
2. Chelsea Sodaro (USA) 08:36.42 +18:22
3. Manon Genet (FRA) 08:52.02 +33.40
4. Heini Hartikainen (FIN) 08:56.31 +38.11
5. Chantal Sainter (GBR) 09:01.50 +43.29

You can download the most important information about the race here >>

For more information and full preliminary results, visit www.ironman.com/im-hamburg