Course Conditions
Another set of course changes (different swim layout compared to 2017, another new bike course and a slightly tweaked run course) makes it hard to compare this year’s results to other IM Hamburg data and determine course records. The non-wetsuit swim was quite slow and the bike course was made relatively hard with side winds, helping to break apart larger groups in the second loop. After last year’s fast marathon times the run course was lengthened and maybe a bit long this year, resulting in slow run times.
All of this and the high temperatures contributed to a high DNF rate – only half of the 26 MPROs who started the race were able to finish.
Kona Qualifying
IM Hamburg had one slot each for the men and women. They go to
- Kristian Hoegenhaug
and - Martina Kunz.
The slot rolled down quite far on the female side: Susie Cheetham (winner), Sarah Piampiao (second) and Caroline Steffen (fourth) were already qualified, and third-place finisher Julia Gajer declined her slot.
Male Race Results
With the fastest bike and run splits, Kristian Hoegenhaug was able to erase his swim deficit. It was a surprise to see him outrun more experienced athletes such as Ruedi Wild who finished second and Andreas Raelert (who DNF’d shortly after the half-marathon mark).
Photo: Kristian pushing hard on the bike.
Photo: Ruedi on the run.
| Rank | Name | Nation | Swim | Bike | Run | Time | Diff to exp. | Prize Money |
| 1 | Kristian Hoegenhaug | DEN | 00:52:03 | 04:17:29 | 02:54:03 | 08:11:26 | -09:18 | US$ 15,000 |
| 2 | Ruedi Wild | SUI | 00:50:13 | 04:24:16 | 02:55:37 | 08:16:34 | 02:32 | US$ 7,500 |
| 3 | Paul Schuster | GER | 00:50:05 | 04:25:32 | 03:02:37 | 08:24:25 | -00:39 | US$ 5,000 |
| 4 | Arnaud Guilloux | FRA | 00:52:07 | 04:34:20 | 02:55:05 | 08:29:14 | -22:37 | US$ 3,250 |
| 5 | Philipp Mock | GER | 01:00:51 | 04:29:13 | 02:56:54 | 08:35:11 | -15:38 | US$ 2,750 |
| 6 | David Breuer | GER | 00:52:06 | 04:30:32 | 03:06:47 | 08:36:08 | -02:11 | US$ 2,000 |
| 7 | Benjamin Dicke | GER | 01:03:09 | 04:31:28 | 03:01:48 | 08:43:56 | 04:43 | US$ 1,500 |
| 8 | Thomas Bosch | GER | 01:01:49 | 04:41:32 | 03:04:44 | 08:55:53 | -01:04 | US$ 1,250 |
| 9 | Sebastian Guhr | GER | 01:09:13 | 04:44:54 | 03:15:40 | 09:16:58 | -14:48 | US$ 1,000 |
| 10 | Grigorii Navrotskii | RUS | 00:54:59 | 05:04:36 | 03:16:47 | 09:23:04 | 14:16 | US$ 750 |
| 11 | Philipp Fahrenholz | GER | 00:58:55 | 04:51:16 | 03:27:33 | 09:24:28 | 02:40 | |
| 12 | Stefan Overmars | NED | 00:58:47 | 04:44:47 | 03:46:55 | 09:38:45 | 37:06 | |
| 13 | Lukas Polan | CZE | 01:03:17 | 05:28:31 | 03:26:08 | 10:06:50 | 09:17 | |
| Andreas Raelert | GER | 00:50:10 | 04:23:04 | DNF | ||||
| Horst Reichel | GER | 00:50:02 | 04:28:07 | DNF | ||||
| Matt Trautman | ZAF | 00:56:27 | 04:29:32 | DNF | ||||
| Marc Unger | GER | 00:58:15 | 04:31:36 | DNF | ||||
| Stefan Schumacher | GER | 01:01:54 | 04:33:33 | DNF | ||||
| Christian Jais | GER | 01:04:06 | 04:45:27 | DNF | ||||
| Steeve Brugiere | FRA | 01:11:03 | 05:01:30 | DNF | ||||
| Michael Raelert | GER | 00:50:00 | DNF | |||||
| Ivan Tutukin | RUS | 00:51:56 | DNF | |||||
| Will Clarke | GBR | 00:53:19 | DNF | |||||
| Andreas Borch | DEN | 00:55:32 | DNF | |||||
| Imanol Sagarzazu | ESP | 01:04:17 | DNF | |||||
| Lukas Pietrek | GER | 01:12:53 | DNF |
Female Race Results
In the female race, Susie Cheetham built a lead on the bike and was able to also have a strong run. In the end, she was able to manage the gap to Sarah Piampiano who had the marathon performance of the day – her 2:56 was just two minutes slower than the fastest run on the male side.
Photo: Susie on the run in front of the beautiful Alster lake in Hamburg.
Photo: Sarah getting splits to the lead at the end of the first bike lap from husband Michael.
| Rank | Name | Nation | Swim | Bike | Run | Time | Diff to exp. | Prize Money |
| 1 | Susie Cheetham | GBR | 01:00:58 | 04:46:57 | 03:03:56 | 08:58:02 | -09:58 | US$ 15,000 |
| 2 | Sarah Piampiano | USA | 01:06:27 | 04:50:54 | 02:56:21 | 09:00:42 | -09:53 | US$ 7,500 |
| 3 | Julia Gajer | GER | 00:56:57 | 04:53:30 | 03:12:31 | 09:09:39 | -08:54 | US$ 5,000 |
| 4 | Caroline Steffen | SUI | 00:56:56 | 04:56:16 | 03:19:35 | 09:19:28 | 15:44 | US$ 3,250 |
| 5 | Martina Kunz | SUI | 01:06:26 | 04:53:54 | 03:21:09 | 09:29:03 | -11:26 | US$ 2,750 |
| 6 | Katharina Grohmann | GER | 01:11:52 | 05:00:56 | 03:27:18 | 09:48:23 | 07:04 | US$ 2,000 |
| 7 | Gabriella Zelinka | HUN | 01:00:59 | 05:14:28 | 03:52:05 | 10:14:28 | 47:25 | US$ 1,500 |
| 8 | Janien Lubben | NED | 01:16:07 | 05:14:50 | 03:52:28 | 10:31:47 | n/a | US$ 1,250 |
| Shannon Chapman | AUS | 01:19:25 | 05:39:20 | DNF |
The swim was very good for age groupers because of they allowed wet-suits but the biggest turn off was the first 30KM’s of each bike loop which had terrible surfaces from cobble stones to railways crossings (more than 18 crossings per loop)… this was too hard to keep everything on the bike and most of the participants lost big part of their nutrition because of it…. the run was super nice, and full of support throughout the 10.5km’s despite of the heat… however there were 2 short cuts which allowed many ppl to cheat after they familiarized themselves with the location of the timing mats; I cannot believe that we train for all these months and then take those unethical silly decisions during the race but seriously some ppl saved good 2-2.5km of each run lap that makes a total of 8-10km…
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