Jonas Schomburg and Katrine Christensen Crush Challenge Sir Bani Yas

It was a very happy birthday for Germany’s Jonas Schomberg, as he rode away from the rest of the field and stayed clear on the run to take today’s Challenge Sir Bani Yas middle distance race. For the women it was Denmark’s Katrine Græsbell Christensen who would use a speedy bike split to pull clear of Aussie’s Natalie Van Coevorden and Ellie Salthouse to take the win.

Cruise Ship Comfort, “cool” conditions

After the challenges transporting many of the pro athletes back and forth from the mainland last year, the pros enjoyed luxury travel to this year’s race, boarding the Celestyal Discovery in Abu Dhabi on Friday morning for the trip to Sir Bani Yas. The entire pro field were provided accommodation and transfers on the ship – so it wasn’t much of a surprise to see the huge field on hand for the race. The one downside was that the ship arrived on the island a bit later on Friday night, so there wasn’t a chance to do much course reconnaissance before the race start.

With the long-distance race heading off at 7 am, the middle-distance race got started at 10:30. Last year, with the race going in early April, that made for an extremely hot day for everyone concerned. Moving the race to the end of January was yet another game changer (to go along with the luxury accommodations) – the athletes entered the 20.1 degree celsius water with the ambient air temperature sitting at 20 degrees. And, while things would heat up later in the day on the run, even at its warmest things weren’t in the same ballpark as last year’s heat-fest.

Happy Birthday Jonas

While Schomburg trailed Brit Max Stapley out of the water, he was only four seconds back. Typically a speedster in transition, Schomburg wasn’t his usual speedy self trailed onto the bike. It wasn’t to stay that way for long, though – by 15 km into the ride the German was already pushing the pace and stretching things out behind him. Through 29 km only Stapley was close, hanging tough at 10 seconds back, while Pieter Heemeryck (BEL) was leading the chase pack that included Kieran Lenders (GBR), Josh Ferris (AUS), Trent Thorpe and Pierre Le Corre (FRA).

Schomburg continued his pressure on the field as the climbing started about halfway through the bike, and by the time he was done was almost three minutes up on a group that now included Ferris, Heemeryck, Stapley and Thorpe. Le Corre had been dropped from that group and would end up hitting T2 in eighth, 4:27 behind the German.

Out on the run there was no stopping Schomburg, who had only been back in training for about three weeks before the event, but his impressive race season last year that included a third at IRONMAN South Africa in his full-distance debut, a runner-up finish at Challenge Roth, a sixth-place finish in Nice and a fourth in Marbella, not to mention a ninth at the T100 Grand Final in Qatar (as if all the other results weren’t enough) left him more than fit enough even after a short break over the holidays. Schomburg was so strong he followed up the day’s fastest bike with the day’s fastest run. The only man who was close to his run speed was Le Corre – the fourth-place finisher from the Paris Olympics would run his way through the field to take second, but still ended up with a split that was couple of seconds slower. Behind Le Corre it was Ferris who managed to just hold off a determined Heemeryck for the final spot on the podium.

Christensen Overcomes Swim Deficit for Big Win

It was Belgian Olympian Jolien Vermeylen (Paris 2024), who was competing in her first half-distance race as a pro, who would lead the women out of the water, three seconds up on Brit Fenella Langridge, with yet another Paris Olympian, Van Coevorden, another second down.

Salthouse would hit T1 just under a minute down, but it wasn’t long before she would push her way to the front on the bike, with Van Coevorden marking her move as she blazed by. The two Aussies would trade positions for a short time on the big climb on the course, but Salthouse appeared determined to set the pace up front. Christensen was steadily moving up through the field, though, and by 60 km was just a few seconds, and then quickly powered away from the two Aussies to hit T2 with a lead of 1:16 on Salthouse and 1:25 on Van Coevroden. It truly was a three woman race as Langridge was next into T2, almost five minutes down.

Out on the run course there was no stopping Christensen, who was much faster than the two Aussies and never appeared threatened on the run course, cruising to a solid win. Van Coevorden would pull clear of Salthouse for second. Germany’s Merle Brunee ran her way to fourth, with Vermeylen posting the day’s fastest run to move up to fifth.

You can see the top-10 results and splits below – it’s important to note that the bike course was 82 km (shortened due to some road issues on the island, while the run was 19.7 km.

Challenge Sir Bani Yas – Middle Distance PRO Results

January 31, 2026

Women

Men

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