On a slick and fast auto racing circuit near Brandenburg, Germany, Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway and Joe Skipper of Great Britain answered the challenge to be the first men to break 7 hours at the Ironman distance and Nicola Spirig of Switzerland and Kat Matthews of Great Britain set out to be the first women to break 8 hours at the famous triathlon test.

While some triathlon publications printed stories that this record-breaking enterprise could not be done, all four of the challengers beat the odds and succeeded.

Red hot triathlon star Blummenfelt, coming off the hottest streak in tri history – wins at the Olympics, the World Triathlon Championship, the Ironman World Championship, and setting a new Ironman record of 7:21:12, all within a year. The Norwegian broke the barrier first with a time of 6:44:25, 3:06 better than Skipper. Rising star Kat Matthews came out the victor after her 7:31:57 time bested 2012 Olympic gold medalist Nicola Spirig of Switzerland by 2:25.

So why could these stalwart contenders break previous records? Much like the recent set-up for the Nike 2 attempt to break the 2-hour barrier for the marathon. Relaxing the standard rules.

In the Nike event, the runner had a team of a dozen pace-making runners to accompany the starring Kenyan. And there were no other runners on the track. At the Pho3nix event, the biggest variation on standard rules was the bike leg – each competitor used the services of 10 to 12 world class cyclist pacemakers – who lined up in a long string for the record-breaking hopefuls to benefit from a ferocious draft. How much help? The leader of the pack put out 450 watts, while Blummenfelt and other stars had only to exert 220 watts to get maximum benefit. Output? The previous men’s bike leg record at Ironman Hawaii was approximately 4 hours flat, while Joe Skipper’s bike split at Brandenburg was 3:16::00.

On the other side of the coin, the best swim at the Pho3nix event was Kristian Blummenfelt's 48:21, neither better nor worse than the best swim splits at Kona. On the Sub7 or Sub8 runs, all competitors could utilize as many as half a dozen running pacesetters. The result was just one effort – Blummenfelt – whose 2:30:50 run split was better than the best of any standard Ironman.

In order to see if they could get the men and the women to finish near to one another, the women took off at 7 AM and the men started one hour later. The men’s best swim split was Blummenfelt’s 48:21 – 5:03 better than Skipper. The women's swim splits were a virtual tie – Matthews was 54:43, Spirig’s was 54:50.

The women’s bike splits were also close. Matthews‘ split was 3:50:06 while Spirig's was 3:10 longer but still in range. The ultimate advantage fell to Blummenfelt’s 2:30:50 run. The men were a different story altogether. Skipper came out of the water 5:03 behind, then Skipper blazed through the bike in 3:16:42, while Blummenfelt managed just 3:24:22.

Finally, the run settled the matter, as Blummenfelt ran the marathon in 2:30:50, 5:53 better than Skipper- which led to Blummenfelt’s 3:11 overall advantage.

There were a few nice personal encounters as Joe Skipper passed Blummenfelt 104 miles into the bike course. As Skipper and his team blasted by Blummenfelt and his crew, the sassy Brit shouted ‘Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!” That is what Skipper called his “Junkyard Dog” salute. Blummenfelt got his revenge late on the run when he passed Skipper and gave a cheery Junkyard Dog “Whoo! Whoo!” salute of his own.

A significant duel broke out between the two men as Skipper spent a long charge to catch up to Blummenfelt on the run. Then Blummenfelt recharged , passed Skipper back and rolled on to victory.

The women had a similar encounter as Nicola Spirig put in a long charge and finally caught up to and passed Kat Matthews near the end of the run . Normally after such an energy-sapping charge
the case would have been closed. But, almost miraculously, Matthews recharged her batteries, and zoomed past Spirig to win the duel. Sure enough, Matthews finished in 7:31:57 with a 2:25 margin over her rival.

Pho3nix Foundation Sub7 Sub8 Presented by Garmin
Brandenburg, Germany
June 5, 2022
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Kristian Blummenfelt NOR
Swim 48:21
Bike 3:24:22
Run 2:30:50
TOT 6:44:25

Joe Skipper GBR
Swim 53:24
Bike 3:16:42
Run 2:36:43
TOT 6:47:36

Kat Matthews GBR
Swim 54:43
Bike 3:50:06
Run 2:46:09
TOT 7:31:57

Nicola Spirig SUI
Swim 54:50
Bike 3:53:16
Run 2:45:07
TOT 7:34:22