Lindars and Wolff win European titles at the Challenge Almere-Amsterdam

A spectacular day at the Challenge Almere-Amsterdam: Kieran Lindars and Katharina Wolff become long-distance triathlon European champions!

A so-called festival of suffering, which became the Challenge Almere-Amsterdam. From flat tires to mechanical issues and athletes struggling against the wind while cycling. However, Kieran Lindars and Katharina Wolff had none of that. Both athletes (Lindars from Great Britain and Wolff from Germany) rode to strong wins not only at the Challenge Almere-Amsterdam but also at the 2022 European Long Distance Triathlon Championships. Lindars won in a fast 7:55:44 and Wolff in a strong 9 :10:10.

The men's race

In the men's race, it came as no surprise that Germany's Lukasz Wojt was the first to emerge from the water. The former swimmer was well ahead of the rest of the field, leading the swim by two minutes. Wojt needed 44:34 minutes to reach his bike. Behind him the group with Niek Heldoorn (NED), Evert Scheltinga (NED), Pamphiel Pareyn (BEL) and Kieran Lindars left the water. Dutchman Milan Brons followed, three minutes behind.

While it was raining cats and dogs in the first 30 minutes on the bike, some athletes had problems. Scheltinga, who was in the chasing group behind Wojt, had a flat tire that he was able to fix but had to let go of the group. Not long after, Wojt also ended up on the side of the road with some problems, causing him to retire from the race. This left Heldoorn, Pareyn and Lindars at the top.

Meanwhile, Starykowicz and Brons were fast approaching from behind. Brons was the first to reach forward, then Starykowicz joined him. The two started fighting and passed each other until just before T2 when Starkyowicz decided to take off alone. Brons fell back to about 1:30 and that meant it was Starykowicz who was able to conquer the run first. The chasing group was nearly eight minutes behind the first man when they parked their bikes back in T2. Austria's Thomas Steger and Evert Scheltinga had a tough day, starting the run with the third chaser more than 11 minutes behind Starykowicz.

While running, the fight between Starykowicz and Brons was underway. Brons started his chase strong, but in the second lap it was actually Starykowicz - who usually struggles with running - who ran a little faster. However, in the first kilometers Brons had already reduced the gap between the two to one minute. Behind them it was Lindars who gave chase, followed by Heldoorn after about a minute.

About a third into the marathon, the real suffering began. Brons had to walk parts of the route and lost contact with Starykowicz and Lindars, who were now in first and second place respectively. In fourth, Norway's Kristian Grue was able to keep his pace, while Heldoorn - fifth - also had to slow down compared to the others in front of him. Brons couldn't gain any more speed and had to let Grue and Heldoorn run past him.

At the front of the race, Lindars was unstoppable. After running to second place, he continued chasing gold. About halfway through the race he made it and didn't intend to let go of the win. After running the first half marathon in an impressive 1:16:08, Lindars slowed down slightly but still led the event by a wide margin over second place athlete: Grue, who had overtaken Starykowicz.

Only a few kilometers before the finish, Heldoorn managed to pass Starykowicz and Grue. And so it was Lindars who brought home the win (7:55:44), Heldoorn was second (8:00:38) and Starykowicz - again passing Grue - rounded out the podium (8:01:44) . Grue finished fourth in 8:02:25 and with Staykowicz being from the USA he secured third place at the European Championships.

The women's race: Lina-Kristin Schink against Katharina Wolff

In the women's category, Katharina Wolff had to work hard and for long stretches of the race had to accept that the German Lina-Kristin Schink prevailed in front of her. However, in the last part of the marathon, she managed to run for first place. In a time of 9:10:10 hours, Wolff won the European Championship at the Challenge Almere-Amsterdam. She shared the podium with Schink and Sweden's Jenny Nae, who finished second and third respectively.

Wolff and Denmark's Karina Gosvig were the first two athletes out of the water. At the beginning of the cycling, the two had a lead of more than five minutes on the third and fourth women, Schink and the Dutchman Janien Lubben. Gosvig was on fire in the first part of the bike course because it wasn't long before she left Wolff behind. But she couldn't keep that up, because after a few kilometers Wolff found her rhythm and took over.

After around three hours of racing, Schink found and overtook the first woman – still Wolff. The wind picked up in the second part of the bike stage, which Schink is very familiar with as she has ridden the Almere-Amsterdam Challenge a number of times before. On these tough kilometers, Schink extended her lead over Wolff by more than three minutes. Behind them, Gosvig fell behind, while Lubben and Norway's Julia Aspesletten moved up to third and fourth.

In the second half of the bike course, Schink was able to extend her lead to 3:30 minutes and thus secured a good buffer to Wolff for the start of the run. Within seven kilometers, the gap between these two ladies had shrunk to just a minute, leading to a close battle for gold. Schink couldn't keep her first place and finally saw Wolff running past her. Wolff (9:10:10) crossed the finish line as the new long-distance European champion, Schink (9:15:57) came second and Nae (9:21:04) secured the bronze medal with a strong run.