Bitados and Pohle Take 70.3 European Crowns in Tallinn

The beautiful capital city of Tallinn, Estonia, played host to the IRONMAN 70.3 European Championships today. Stacked fields, consisting of athletes contending for the Pro Series and athletes transitioning from short course to long course, looked to make their mark on the race. Athletes were greeted by unseasonably warm temperatures that reached eighty degrees fahrenheit and winds that reached twenty miles per hour. This led to a healthy number of athletes not being able to finish the race. It was Greece’s Panagiotis Bitados on the men’s side and Germany’s Caroline Pohle on the women’s side who would prevail.

Bitados was a surprise winner but does have a pair of wins in 2024. After the race he said, “That’s the point for me to enjoy, to finish safe, and to push everything of my body, and for me I am happy for myself, and that’s the goal for me. So I am happy today.” He tried to do each discipline at a high level and was happy that his run came through today. Asked what comes next he added, “Training, and then training.”

Pohle was much less of a surprise on the women’s side but did well to hold off her challengers. Known as a strong swimmer, it was her bike and run that solidified her result today. She tells us, “I’m absolutely speechless. At the moment I think it’s just a dream. I worked so hard the last month and today it pays off the hard work the last month so, yeah, I’m absolutely speechless and happy and proud of myself.” Pohle continued, “I played my cards at the swim and at the bike. I tried to push hard from the beginning. I hoped for a good run and worked really hard on my run performance the last month.”

Men's Race Recap

Germany’s Hannes Butters led out the swim in 21:07. That was enough to put a small gap on the rest of the field. Great Britain’s Sam Dickinson, who you might know as Alex Yee’s sherpa for the Paris Olympics, came out of the water in second in 21:36. Dickinson was second at 70.3 Bahrain in 2022 in his only other start at the distance. Marc Dubrick, Jelle Geens, Panagiotis Bitados, Kevin McDowell, Kacper Stepniak, and Justus Nieschlag, all joined Dickinson up front. The main chase pack included names like Joao Pereira, Antony Costes, Peter Heemeryck, Leonard Arnold, and Robert Kallin. The Tallinn bike course is fast and flat. Butters maintained an early lead over the field. Kallin bridged up to the chase pack by halfway and then to the front of the race with 15km left to go. Kallin would only be able to gap Butters by thirty seconds heading into T2. The rest of the field, however, was much further back. Kallin had distanced them by four minutes.

Germany’s Leonard Arnold was the only person within three minutes of the leading duo. Arnold moved into the lead of the run early, with Kallin falling back. By the 10k mark, however, Bitados had moved all the way through the field and into the lead. Arnold was in second. Geens, one of the strongest runners in the field, was one minute back in third. From there, Bitados’ lead would only grow. He pumped up the crowd down the finishing chute, as he broke the tape in 3:36:09, splitting 1:09:18 on the run. Arnold and Geens would hang on for second and third respectively.

TOTAL SWIM BIKE RUN
1 Bitados, Panagiotis 3:36:09 21:46 2:02:49 1:09:18
2 Arnold, Leonard 3:36:45 23:06 1:59:58 1:11:04
3 Geens, Jelle 3:39:13 21:45 2:03:00 1:12:20
4 Stepniak, Kacper 3:39:52 21:50 2:02:53 1:13:04
5 Nieschlag, Justus 3:41:57 21:52 2:02:58 1:14:46

Women’s Race Recap

Germany’s Caroline Pohle took control of the race from the start and would lead wire to wire. She put approximately forty seconds on the main swim pack, which included Marta Sanchez, Kate Curran, Pamalla Oliveira, Sif Madsen, Lauren Brandon, Luisa Prat, and Grace Thek. You know that you swam well if you can put that much time into some of the strongest swimmers in the sport. Lisa Norden, Kaidi Kivioja, Kat Matthews, Maja Stage Nielsen, and Tamara Jewett were a little further back but still in contention. Pohle did not wait for anyone to catch her on the bike. She led by ninety seconds at halfway. Madsen and Matthews had broken away to form a small chase pack. Norway’s Solveig Lovseth rode in between them and a larger chase pack. Pohle’s lead would grow to more than two minutes, with only the three aforementioned women within striking distance.

The only question that remained was if Matthews could run Pohle down? Pohle maintained her lead early in the run and then her lead began to grow over the second half. Matthews was seen taking water and ice at pretty much every aid station. The conditions were clearly playing a role in deterring her comeback attempt. Pohle would not come under any pressure on the run, clocking a superb 1:20:17 run split in warm conditions to take the win. Matthews would have to settle for second. Lovseth rounded out the podium in third. Thek and Curran used strong runs to move up to take fourth and fifth place respectively.

TOTAL SWIM BIKE RUN
1 Pohle, Caroline 3:59:40 25:10 2:11:50 1:20:17
2 Matthews, Kat 4:02:39 26:20 2:12:46 1:20:55
3 Lovseth, Solveig 4:05:56 27:12 2:12:44 1:23:23
4 Thek, Grace 4:08:23 25:54 2:18:55 1:20:42
5 Curran, Kate 4:09:35 25:49 2:18:44 1:22:28

Quick Takes

Quick Take #1 – Caroline Pohle was excellent today. It is not easy to go wire to wire and beat someone as good as Kat Matthews by three minutes. Matthews will not be happy not being able to take full points in the Pro Series. This looks to be Pohle’s best run result of her career. It also came on a warm day, not meant for personal bests. Pohle will only be harder to beat moving forward if she is able to replicate this kind of a run performance. It is not easy to run well, after being off the front of the race all day.

Quick Take #2 – Panagiotis Bitados is ranked 101 by World Triathlon. He was 8th at the Hong Kong World Cup earlier in the year, one spot ahead of Matthew McElroy. He is now three for three this season at the half distance, winning Challenge Walchsee and 70.3 Kraichgau earlier in the year. He took down some strong competition in those races utilizing a similar blueprint. He is a front pack swimmer and excellent runner. If his bike keeps him close enough to the leaders then he is going to be a threat in any race he enters. We do not know what is next for him except for, of course, more training.

Quick Take #3 – Let’s not be quick to anoint short course Olympians at long course. Geens and Lovseth both took 3rd today. McDowell was 19th. Dickinson was 20th. Bitados is more of a hybrid athlete, crossing over into both formats. This is not meant to put short course athletes down but to simply acknowledge how good long course racing has gotten. The bike is so difficult now that it does require specific training to figure out how to put a good run together. It will be interesting to see how more athletes perform who make the move after this Olympic cycle.

Photos: Brit Maria Tael for IRONMAN

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