The Championship 2024 Day One | Highlights & Report

Day one of The Championship 2024 saw triathlon celebrated across all ages, distances and abilities at the x-bionic sphere in Šamorín. Short course racing took place over the Sprint and Olympic distances, plus Special Olympics celebrated their largest European triathlon event, and hundreds started their triathlon careers in the Try-athlon and the Kids’ Race.

In the sprint distance Maurice Curth of Germany took out the overall win in 1:02:48 while in the women, the title went to Janka Benackova (SVK).

There was also local success in the Olympic distance with the men’s title going to Jakub Jansky (SVK) in 2:04:03. The women’s race was won by Malgorzata Granicka (POL) in 2:15:12.

As every year, it was the inspiring Special Olympics athletes who got the loudest cheers from spectators and created warm memories. Travelling from all four corners of the world to compete in this highlight event of the Special Olympics calendar, they came from Germany, Italy, Israel, Finland, Guatemala, Slovakia, The Netherlands, Monaco and the USA.

Racing continues tomorrow with the flagship The Championship race over the middle distance featuring a start list of over 100 top elite and 1,000 age group athletes who have qualified to race at The Championship at one of the 35 Challenge Family events around the world over the past 12 months.

With names such as Frederic Funk, Rico Bogen, Peter Heemeryck, India Lee, Fenella Langridge and Els Visser on the start line, an exciting day of racing is guaranteed.

Text Credits: The Challenge Family | Photo Credits: Activ Images | Video Credits: ICARUS Sports