A spectacular course with very cold swimming and many elevation changes on the 80 km bike ride made today’s competition in San Francisco in the T100 Triathlon World Tour, a tough challenge.

The world championship series race consisted of a 2 km swim, 80 km bike ride, and 18 km run and was the 3rd out of 8 races in the season. It ended with a 4th place finish for Magnus Ditlev, a result that moved him up to a tie for 2nd place in the overall World Championship standings after a 1st place and a 4th place in the two races he has completed. The three best results along with the result in the Grand Final in November count in the overall standings.

Sam Long, USA, has competed in three races and tops the overall standings with two 2nd places and an 8th place, while Dutch athlete Youri Keulen, like Magnus Ditlev, has a victory and a 4th place after two races.

Sam Long, USA, 70 points (3 races, 28+28+14)

Magnus Ditlev, Denmark, 57 points (2 races, 35+22)

Youri Keulen, Netherlands, 57 points (2 races, 22+35)

Kyle Smith, New Zealand, 48 points (2 races, 20+28)

Mathis Margirier, France, 45 points (2 races, 25+18)

It was a solid day in San Francisco for Magnus Ditlev, who recorded the second fastest bike split, positioning himself well before the final 18 km run, despite the course with many sharp climbs not suiting the tall Dane very well.

During the run, three guys broke away and built up a lead of over a minute, ending in an ultra-close sprint finish between the trio.

Olympian Marten van Riel won by a few centimeters in a thrilling sprint finish over New Zealand’s Kyle Smith, with the German IRONMAN 70.3 world champion, Rico Bogen, taking 3rd place a few seconds later.

The three led the last 10 km in a front group, while Magnus Ditlev was in his own group of three athletes with German Mika Noodt and Frenchman Mathis Margirier. Magnus made a surge towards the backend of the race and his two companions fell off the pace approaching the finish line, allowing the Dane to secure 4th place, and thus he now lies in a tie for second place in the overall World Championship standings.

"I am overall satisfied with both my shape and my performance. It's always frustrating to finish fourth, and I had hoped to contend for the win, but the course didn't really suit the big guys like Sam Long and me, as we spent a lot of energy on the climbs compared to the smaller guys, and so we couldn't really utilize our strong cycling. There was a strange dynamic on the bike with the many descents and sharp turns, so I did what I could," says the Danish triathlete, who is ranked second in both the world rankings and the World Championship series.

A broken hand less than two months ago in Singapore, which meant missing the second World Championship race of the year and thus an involuntary training break, led Magnus Ditlev to decide to start in San Francisco. The Dane came directly from a 5-week altitude training camp in Colorado, and his shape is where it needs to be with only a month to one of the season's big goals, where Magnus Ditlev will attempt to win the Challenge Roth on the full Ironman distance for the 3rd year in a row - last year even with a world record for the distance.

"It has been fantastic to come down from 2,600 meters altitude, and my shape feels really good, so I am optimistic about Roth in a month. When I look at how I performed on the flat sections, the feeling is really good, and I am happy to be able to compete at the top on a day and a route that doesn't suit me particularly well. The swim was quite strange, and you don't swim particularly well with all that neoprene on your hands and feet due to the cold. On the run, the conditions were perfect, but again I ended up in an annoying dynamic where Noodt and Margirier didn't want to take the lead but instead drafted behind me in the headwind sections. However, I could feel that I was the strongest in the group, and even though my sprint is pretty good, I decided not to rely on a sprint. So, I pushed with 4-5 minutes left of the 18 km run, and Margirier was the first to drop, and when I increased the pace again, Noodt also had to let go. A 4th place is still much better for my position in the World Championship standings, where I am now in second place," reports Magnus Ditlev about a race that commentators called one of the most insane races in history with three athletes sprinting for the win after over three hours of competition.

"It was almost like a short-distance race, so it was a lot of fun to be a part of, and even though it's not what I do best, I love racing when it's so close," he says.

Tomorrow, Magnus Ditlev returns to altitude for a week and then home to Denmark a week later, where the final preparations for one of the year's highlights will take place:

On July 7, Magnus Ditlev will attempt to defend the legendary Challenge Roth title on the Ironman distance in Germany for the 3rd consecutive year. Last year, he even set a world record for the 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike ride, and 42.2 km run with a time of 7 hours, 24 minutes, and 40 seconds.

March 10, Miami - Winner: Magnus Ditlev

April 14, Singapore - Winner: Youri Keulen

June 8, San Francisco - Winner: Marten van Riel

July 28, London

September 28/29, Ibiza

October 19/20, Las Vegas

November 16/17, Dubai

November 29/30, in the Middle East, Grand Final

The overall World Championship standings after two races can be found in this link.

The three best results in the World Championship series plus the result from the Grand Final at the end of November count in the overall standings, meaning you need to complete 4 out of the 8 races to count in the World Championship standings.

• Points are awarded in each of the eight races, and each athlete’s three best results in the series plus the result in the Grand Final make up the overall World Championship tally.
  
• The first seven races give 35 points to the winner, then 28 for 2nd place, 25 for 3rd place, and so on down to 20th place: 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 point.
  
• At the year's last race, the Grand Final, 55 points are awarded to the winner, then: 45, 40, 35, 30, 27, 24, 21, 18, 16, 14, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4 to the 20th place.
  
• The overall world champion also wins a bonus of 210,000 US Dollars, while there are also large cash prizes for the remaining 19 athletes who get four scoring competitions.