Cape Town - South African Red Bull athlete Matt Trautman won the iconic Almere-Amsterdam Challenge on Saturday in a new record time of 7:50:15.
READ | Matt Trautman chats to Sport24
The event featured a 3.8km swim, 180km bike and finished with a 42.2km run leg.
“It was an amazing day,” Trautman said post-race.
“My swim was good, my bike was strong and the first 21km of running went smoothly. After that I started suffering the suffering a bit.”
Trautman’s spectacular time over the distance bettered the previous record held by Jaroslav Kovacic (7:55:44) by over five minutes.
“I love this victory. This is really nice,” Trautman added, highlighting how he made his move with some 30km to go of the bike leg and just kept pushing from there.
Denmark's Kristian Hogenhaug finished in second place, 3:37 minutes behind Trautman, to also go under the previous record and claim the overall European Long Distance Triathlon title.
Czech Tomas Renc (+10:29) rounded out the podium.
Trautman, 34, was out of racing due to injury for some time and also took time away from competing with the birth of his first child.
The result is a huge statement on his form and the perfect confidence boost as he heads to Hawaii for a 'heat training camp' ahead of the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, on Saturday, October 12.
Compiled by Garrin Lambley
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