IRONMAN 70.3 European Championship Tallinn 2024 results: German ace Pohle repels British star Kat Matthews for a famous victory

Caroline Pohle of Germany led from gun to tape to take a highly impressive victory at IRONMAN 70.3 European Championship Tallinn on Sunday.

Pohle came home comfortably clear of pre-race favourite – Britain’s Kat Matthews – with a quite brilliant display across all three disciplines. Norwegian Olympian Solveig Lovseth claimed the final podium spot in third.

Despite the big names in the field, Pohle was alone at the front for the entire day, barring the very early stages of the swim. She built a good advantage in the water and just gradually increased it during the bike and run for a famous success.

Caroline Pohle Kat Matthews IRONMAN 70.3 Tallinn 2024 — Caroline Pohle is congratulated by Kat Matthews after winning in Tallinn (Photo – Getty Images for IRONMAN).

Swim – Pohle sets scorching pace

Pohle made a very impressive start to her day in Estonia, setting a scorching pace in the waters of the Baltic as she built a lead of 38 seconds heading into T1. Following her were Spain’s Marta Sanchez and Britain’s Kate Curran.

Sweden’s Lisa Norden was ninth out of the water, just over a minute back from the lead, while Matthews was just five seconds behind Norden in 12th. Next came Denmark’s Maja Stage Nielsen with Canada’s Tamara Jewett 1:21 down in 15th.

Lovseth – a winner recently at IRONMAN 70.3 Warsaw – was 2:02 away from the lead in 17th, with Dutch star Els Visser 2:45 back in 18th. Visser also lost the rear large bottle off her bike in T1, potentially causing her a headache later in the day.

Bike – Pohle punishes rivals

Pohle continued to lead the way in the early stages of the bike leg, and actually increased her advantage to 54 seconds as the field went through 20km. Behind her though, things were starting to evolve.

Second now was Denmark’s Sif Bendix Madsen, with Matthews now up to third at 1:15. Norden was 1:45 back in sixth with France’s Emilie Morier right behind her. Lovseth was up to 12th but still 2:40 away, with Jewett (down 4:15) and Visser (+5:01) both losing significant early ground.

At halfway on the bike leg Pohle continued to set the pace and had slightly increased her advantage to 1:27 over Madsen with Matthews right behind the Dane. Lovseth had now bridged up to fourth but she was still 3:06 behind the leader Pohle. The Norwegian headed a select chase group which also included Morier and Norden.

Through 66km on the bike and the big news was that Pohle’s advantage at the front was not shrinking – in fact it was growing. The German now led Matthews and Bendsen by 2:15 while Lovseth was now at 3:31. Just over 20km to go before T2 beckoned and a fascinating conclusion was already in prospect.

Madsen and Matthews were able to close the gap to Pohle slightly during the final quarter of the bike leg (which was 1 mile long per the IRONMAN broadcast team), but they were still just over two minutes back as the leaders arrived in T2. Lovseth meanwhile had closed to 2:53 with just the 21km run to come. It was game on.

Further down the field and Norden was 5:58 back in sixth while Jewett and Visser were both more than 11 minutes off the lead.

Pohle’s bike split – the fastest of the day – was timed at 2:11:50.

Run – Glory for Germany as Pohle brings it home

Pohle started the run looking both controlled and comfortable, and the first major split at 7km reflected that. She was holding the gap to the now second-placed Matthews at 2:10, with Lovseth now moving into the final podium spot at 2:46. With five minutes to Madsen in fourth, it looked like those three would fill the final podium barring any disasters. But who would top it?

At halfway on the run Pohle was still looking strong, and now increasing her lead over Matthews in second. The gap was now 2:51 at the front, while Lovseth was falling away in third, back to 4:16 away. Barring a Caroline blowup, it was looking like a win for Germany now.

Pohle was relentless at the front while Kat for the moment if anything was struggling by comparison. The gap at the front grew to 3:28 by the 14km mark with Lovseth 5:04 away in third.

Kat was much more fluid over the next 4km as she tried to close the gap, but was still 3:40 down with just 3km remaining and barring an absolute disaster the win looked in the bag for the impressive Pohle.

There was no stopping the brilliant Pohle as she stormed through the final stages to claim a convincing victory. She took the tape in tears after closing an epic performance with a 1:20:17 half-marathon. Matthews, as ever, stuck to the task valiantly to claim silver medal position with Lovseth completing the podium.