In pictures: Challenge St. Pölten 2024

The city of St. Pölten, the capital of the State of Lower Austria has been hosting major international triathlon events for two decades now.

On Sunday, the fourth edition of Challenge St. Pölten took place, a race which saw a repeat winner from 2023 in the men’s race, Tom Hug, joined by five first-time visitors to a Challenge Family professional podium.

Germany’s Laura Zimmermann took the title for the Pro Women in what was a very tight battle, just holding off Great Britain’s Chloe Sparrow, who was making only her second professional start. She wasn’t the only Brit who reached the podium either… check out how it all played out below.

A regular on these pages, photographer José Luis Hourcade (www.joseluishourcade.com) was on hand to capture the race in pictures, as well as some of the amazing scenery that this region has to offer

Challenge St. Pölten Gallery 2024

Pre-race focus

The Pro Women start the day off in St. Pölten

Early battles in this ‘two lake’ swim course

The Pro Men start 20 minutes later

This is NOT transition! Athletes run 200m between the Viehofner See and Ratzersdorfer See as part of this ‘two lake’ course

Diving in for the second part of the swim

Chloe Sparrow (GBR) and Hannes Butters (GER) built big leads during the opening discipline, leaving their chasers with plenty of work to do

The bike course starts with a flat and fast motorway section

Defending champion, Tom Hug (GER) had to overcome a bike crash this year, losing most of his nutrition in the process

Germany’s Maurice Clavel was initially part of the chasing group

Athletes were soon off of the motorway and into some amazing surrounds

Passing through one of the many wineries and vineyards of the region

Two minutes up after the swim, Hannes Butters started to catch the Pro Women out on the 90km bike course

Chloe Sparrow maintained her swim lead throughout the bike leg, reaching T2 around half a minute clear

Laura Zimmerman in chase of Great Britain’s Chloe Sparrow

Sarah Schönfelder (GER) was the fastest on the bike, reducing that gap to the Brit and moving into second place at T2

Much of the bike course is with the World Heritage are of Wachau

Defending champion Daniela Kleiser would take fourth place this time around

Tom Hug quickly passed Hannes Butters to take a decisive lead early in the run

Ondrej Kubo (SVK) ran his was to second place

After 11th (2022) and 5th (2023) here previously, Will Draper ran strongly to a first career Challenge Family podium finish

The two-lap run course takes athletes past the finish straight and transition area

It took until later in the run for Laura Zimmermann to finally pass Chloe Sparrow who almost went gun-to-tape

Chloe Sparrow ran strongly to hold second place at the finish

Back-to-back Challenge St .Pölten titles for Tom Hug

A first challenge family victory for Zimmermann – her winning margin was just 30 seconds over Sparrow

Challenge St. Pölten Results 2024

Sunday 26 May 2024 – 1.9 km / 92 km / 21.1 km

ELITE WOMEN

1. Laura Zimmermann (GER) – 4:27:06

2. Chloe Sparrow (GBR) – 4:27:46

3. Sarah Schönfelder (GER) – 4:28:57

Women’s Pro Podium

ELITE MEN

1. Tom Hug (GER) – 3:52:48

2. Ondrej Kubo (SVK) – 3:54:59

3. Will Draper (GBR) – 3:55:28

Men’s Pro Podium

Written by

John Levison

TRI247’s Chief Correspondent, John has been involved in triathlon for well over 30 years, 15 of those writing on these pages, whilst he can also be found commentating for events across the UK.

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