Five-time ITU World Champion, two-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion, 2012 Olympic silver medalist and 2012 XTERRA World Champion Javier Gomez of Spain ran away from his rivals to take a comfortable victory over fellow Spaniard Pablo Dapena at Challenge Prague.

Men

Gomez and Dapena matched race leading swims (21:20 and 21:21) and bike splits (2:04:12 and 2:04:11) before Gomez unleashed a 1:13:48 half marathon that was 6:06 better than Dapena. Gomez finished in 3:44:40 with a 6:13 margin of victory over Dapena and 7:15 over 3rd place finisher and defending Challenge Prague champion Pieter Heemeryck of Belgium.

Despite his mile lead at the finish, Gomez said he was pushed hard. “The race wasn’t easy at all,” he told Challenge media. “The guys were very strong especially on the bike and it was hard also because of the heat. However, I found my strength and fans pushed me to the finish line.”

Women

Verstuyft had a tougher time. She swam 25:46, trailing swim leader Agnieszka Jerzyk of Poland by 3 seconds and leading late race rivals Kirsty Jahn of Canada and Laura Siddall of Great Britain by 45 seconds. On the bike, Verstuyft gave up 2:48 to Austria’s Lisa Hütthaler, who started the run with a 2 minutes lead. Meanwhile Verstuyft put 1:48 on Jahn and 2:02 on Siddall and led the duo by nearly 3 minutes leaving T2.

Verstuyft’s women’s 4th-fastest 1:28:20 half marathon was enough to pass Hütthaler for the lead and hold off faster runs by Jahn and Siddall for a 33 seconds margin of victory over Jahn and 51 seconds over 3rd place Siddall.

“It is the first time I won a Challenge event,” said Verstuyft. “It was really hard in the last running lap - I got bad stitches and I saw the others behind, but I am happy I could handle it.”

Challenge Prague
Prague, Czech Republic
July 28, 2018
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 3:44:40 S 21:20 T1 3:26 B 2:04:12 T2 1:53 R 1:13:48
2. Pablo Dapena (ESP) 3:50:53 S 21:21 T1 3:25 B 2:04:11 T2 2:00 R 1:19:54
3. Pieter Heemeryck (BEL) 3:51:55 S 22:24 T1 3:10 B 2:03:24 T2 1:49 R 1:21:05
4. Filipe Azevedo (POR) 3:54:48 S 23:14 T1 3:23 B 2:08:35 T2 2:10 R 1:17:25
5. Niclas Bock (GER) 3:58:59 S 23:22 T1 3:32 B 2:03:23 T2 2:34 R 1:26:07

Women

1. Katrien Verstuyft (BEL) 4:21:30 S 25:46 T1 3:47 B 2:21:30 T2 2:06 R 1:28:20
2. Kirsty Jahn (CAN) 4:22:03 S 26:29 T1 4:04 B 2:23:18 T2 2:44 R 1:25:27
3. Laura Siddall (GBR) 4:22:21 S 26:39 T1 3:57 B 2:22:32 T2 2:44 R 1:25:27
4. Agnieszka Jerzyk (POL) 4:24:11 S 25:43 T1 3:51 B 2:21:40 T2 2:12 R 1:30:43
5. Lisa Hütthaler (AUT) 4:25:28 S 26:33 T1 3:56 B 2:18:42 T2 1:34:09