Bronze for Erlangen: Tanja Neubert shines at the Ironman World Championships in Marbella!

Bronze for Erlangen: Tanja Neubert shines at the Ironman World Championships in Marbella!

In sunny Marbella, 25-year-old Tanja Neubert from Erlangen caused a real bang. At the Ironman70.3 World Championship she made it to the podium and secured the Bronze medal. A great success, which for the young athlete represents the highlight of her career so far, as it was only her second race over the demanding distance of 1.9 km swimming, 90 km cycling and 21.1 km running.

Neubert, who came out of the water in tenth place and was over two minutes behind the leader Lucy Charles-Barclay, showed her full potential, especially in the running discipline. Her coach Steffen Justus spoke of a great performance and praised her preparation, which was short but apparently exceeded all expectations. “Believing in my abilities was crucial,” said Neubert while high-fiving the euphoric spectators on the Costa del Sol.

Strong competition and ambition

The competition was strong, so it's no wonder that Neubert only had to admit defeat to the two outstanding athletes: the British Lucy Charles-Barclay (32 years old) and the American Taylor Knibb (27 years old). While Charles-Barclay won the half-distance world championship title for the second time, Knibb has triumphed continuously for the last three years. These two previously gave up at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, but demonstrated all their strength in Marbella.

With her weight of just 48 kg, Neubert impressively demonstrated that even smaller athletes can be at the forefront. The last German podium place was achieved by Anne Haug in 2018. Laura Philipp, who secured bronze in 2017, did not compete this time. Neubert now not only has the medal, but also a clear goal in mind: the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 are her big next goal.

Further developments in triathlon sports

While the women have now got a taste for it, the men are at the start on Sunday, including former world champion Rico Bogen and Jonas Schomburg. Competitions like this impressively show how dynamic and exciting the sport of triathlon is. This year, many athletes will also have the chance to win the title of “Multisport Legend” at the Multisport World Championships, which is awarded to those who have successfully completed five or more races. The disciplines include duathlon, cross triathlon and aquathlon, to name just a few. This title ceremony will take place at the closing ceremony of the championships.

Overall, the event in Marbella was a complete success and showed how exciting the sport of triathlon is – for athletes and spectators alike. Further information about upcoming events can also be found at Jan Pravas or on Triathlon.org.