Chrissie Wellington

University of Birmingham alumna Chrissie Wellington has rewritten (her own) record books once again, with a triumphant performance at the Challenge Roth Ironman in Germany on Sunday 10 July.

Triple World Ironman Champion Chrissie completed the race in 8:18:13, shaving 1 min off her 2010 time and becoming the first ever woman to finish an Ironman distance race with a sub two hour and 45 minutes marathon. The geography graduate was beaten by just four men while her marathon time of 2:44:35 was second only to mens' winner Anreas Raelert.

Of her running she quipped: ‘We have been working very hard on the running, not necessarily the volume of running I'm doing but increasing the quality and particularly the intensity,’

"Training up at altitude in Boulder [Colorado] really does benefit me, it makes your body work harder so when you come back to sea-level you feel like you've got a lot more air, particularly on the run."

After securing a third successive world record Roth win, Wellington now turns her attention to Hawaii, and the Ironman World championship.

She won the title on her debut in 2007, only her second Ironman race, and retained it in 2008 and 2009 but a mixture of illnesses, including pneumonia and West Nile virus, ruled her out of a fourth title in 2010.

"Obviously I've got fireworks inside about Hawaii, I'm determined to do everything in my power to regain that title, not racing last year was an incredible disappointment," she added.

Of her third consecutive Challenge Roth triumph she said: "Today I achieved more than I ever thought was possible. I'm so happy, overjoyed and proud to have raced here at Roth and to have broken my own World Record, on this the 10th Anniversary makes it even more special."

SWIM: 49:49
T1: 1:55
BIKE: 4:40:38
T2: 1:17
RUN: 2:44:34
TOTAL: 8:18:13

Position women
1st Chrissie Wellington (GBR) 8:18:13
2nd Julia Wagner (GER) 8:56:23
3rd Rebekah Keat (AUS) 8:59:22