IRONMAN Media Team
Magnus Ditlev of Denmark and Anne Reischmann of Germany won the first full-distance IRONMAN® triathlon of the 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series.
The 20th edition of the ISUZU Ironman South Africa African Championship was held in Gqeberha on Sunday in windy conditions.
The two winners received 5,000 Pro Series points, $28,000 USD each, and a regional championship title.
Hometown ‘hero’ Jamie Riddle was fifth, earning a ticket to the 2025 IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, France.
“It was a really tough day, the wind made it super brutal and honest,” Ditlev said in post-race comments.
In the women’s professional race, defending champion Maria Sanchez put on a pedigree swim performance as she quickly took the lead, swimming solo for most of the ROKA Swim Course.
But a hungry German in the form of Anne Reischmann, who was 7th out of the swim, started to put down the pace on the bike, successfully making her way through the pack to take over from Stage-Nielsen in third as she hunted down the reigning champion for the eventual win.
Katrine Græsbøll Christensen finished in third place.
“I’m just so incredibly happy, also really tired, but really, really happy! I had a really good swim,” said Reischmann.
“Then, on the bike, I tried to stick to my race plan and numbers, just head down in aero.
“I was struggling towards the end, and I saw Marta at the front, and that gave me a lot of motivation, and we got into T2 together.
“I might have started the run a tiny bit too fast. After 10km, I thought this was going to be a long last of 20km, but I’m just so incredibly happy to finish and win,” Reischmann added.
The full results for the ISUZU IRONMAN South Africa triathlon can be found at ironman.com/races/im-south-africa/results.
For additional event information, please visit ironman.com/races/im-south-africa.
