186 male and 127 female athletes finished the Long Distance Aquabike Championships last Sunday in Ibiza. After smaller fields of starters in the previous editions this was the biggest aquabike race since the 2019 World Championships in Pontevedra (where they will again be held in 2025). After the 3 km swim athletes had to tackle a quite demanding 116 km bike course under perfect weather conditions – except maybe for the wind which certainly didn´t make the bike leg easier. The race was perfectly organized – apart from one little (or maybe not so little) thing. But more about that a bit later…
Victory for the Favourite in the Men´s Race
The men´s race saw a pretty close competitions with the first three athletes finishing within less than one minute. But first things first. First out of the water was the same athlete as 2019 in Pontevedra. US routinier Mike SHAFFER was again the fastest swimmer, finishing the 3 km swim course in just about 40 minutes. He was followed a few seconds later by local hero Ismael PARRILLA PONCE who won the European Championships on his home island in 2018. In third place it was Cesar PEREIRA DEL PINO who came out half a minute after the leader in his very first aquabike race (as of our records). After a fast transition Ismael started the bike leg in the lead, followed by his fellow countrymen David RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ and David RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ. Another aquabike newbie was following only a few seconds behind. Former triathlon pro Marcin Lawicki from Poland put down the hammer on the bike. He soon took the lead and after the first of the two laps he was leading the race with about two minutes to his next competitors. Unfortunately, on the second lap he had to abandon the race due to a puncture. Behind the polish later dropped out leader it was Ibicenco Ismael Parilla Ponce leading the aquabike field with Cesar PEREIRA DEL PINO about two minutes behind, and almost five minutes to Liam MILLER who was now on a podium spot after coming out of the water in 11th position. He was closely followed by Nicolas BARTHE and Ross HAMILTON.
But the two strongest cyclists that day were still further behind at that point. Prerace favourite Mathieu DUMONT clocked the fastest time on the first bike lap. Starting the bike leg in 53rd position, he made his way up to 14th place after the first lap. He was 47 seconds behind Kurt HOLT – another strong cyclist who was sitting in 11th place at that point of the race. Still more than 9 minutes behind the leader.
With all other athletes slowing down in the second lap, Mathieu and Kurt both managed to do a negative split on the bike, both going even faster than in their first lap. Cesar PEREIRA DEL PINO however could hold his speed and pass his fellow countryman to take the lead in the race. While Mathieu and Kurt were coming closer, passing athlete by athlete he was able to hold the lead. Just a few kilometres before the finish Mathieu DUMONT finally passed him to take win, crossing the line 21 seconds ahead of Cesar PEREIRA DEL PINO while Kurt HOLT came in third, 55 seconds down on the winner. After leading the race for quite a while Ismael PARRILLA PONCE had to settle for fourth place on his home island, but could certainly be happy taking the title in his age group. After a strong bike leg it was Britain´s Kris WHITELAW who took the fifth place, beating Irishman Ross HAMILTON by a few seconds – just as at the European´s in Bilbao last September.
With the top 10 men separated by just about seven minutes, this was by far the closest Long Distance Aquabike World Championship race ever since.
Surprise Winner in the Women´s Race
While the prerace favourite took the win in the men´s race, the women´s world champion was certainly a surprise. After the swim however the first position in the race weren´t really a surprise. Brazilian Champion Marina MACHADO BERTI came out of the water first, closely followed by Pia GRECH, a young athlete from Malta, and Czech girl Dominika JOSEFOVA. Prerace favourite Amber SMOLIK came out fourth, but had a time gap of more than one and a half minutes to the leading three, while Britain´s Lindsay IBBOTT followed in fifth place, another minute behind.
The girls from Malta and Brazil could not hold the pace of the strongest cyclists on the bike leg and soon dropped back. So it was Dominika JOSEFOVA taking the lead on the bike while strong cyclist Amber SMOLIK come closer and closer. She passed her in the first bike lap and by the end of the lap she had already put more than two minutes into the Czech athlete, who was in third position at that point of the race. Between the two was a young athlete from Iceland. After coming out of the water in 15th place Katrín PÁLSDÓTTIR showed an incredible performance on the bike. Starting the bike leg three minutes and 42 seconds behind the US athlete, she brought the gap down to only 1:21 minutes after the first lap on the bike. Felicity JOYCE was in 4th position, three minutes down on the podium spots, with Lindsay IBBOTT still in fifth position, but already more then ten minutes behind the leader.
While it was clear that Dominika JOSEFOVA could not hold the pace of the strong cyclists, it came to a showdown between Amber SMOLIK and Katrín PÁLSDÓTTIR in the final bike lap. The girl from Iceland had the stronger bike legs in the end, taking the win 44 seconds. The race for the final spot on the podium was decided 13 minutes later, showing what a strong performance the two delivered on the bike.
In the race for the podium Felicity JOYCE passed Dominika JOSEFOVA, coming in about a minute ahead of the young athlete from Czechia. Kate BROWN from New Zealand came in five minutes later to take the 5th place, followed by Lindsay IBBOTT who crossed the finishline in 6th place.
Have I finished the race yet?
Speaking of the finish line. Well… this really seems like a never-ending story when it comes to major aquabike events. As I already criticized in our Race Preview, the finishline was planned to be 15 metres before the dismount line. In the race briefing the day before the race we got good news. We were now told that the finishline will be 50 metres before the dismount line. Great! So, everything seemed prepared for a fair and safe finish of the aquabike race.
When I approached the finish, somebody was waving a blue flag – in the same colour as the aquabike bib numbers that day (triathletes had green numbers). For me that was the clear sign that this was the finish of the aquabike race. So, I got off the bike at the dismount line without a hurry. My girlfriend was waiting there and since there was enough space not to be in anybody´s way, I stepped aside to change a few words with her. Until somebody screamed “Finish! Finish!”, pointing to the entry of the transition zone a few metres next to me. I wasn´t sure if this guy just wasn´t aware that I had finished my race already, or if the finishline indeed was at T2 entry. So, I went on, noting only later when I looked at the results that indeed the time was taken at T2 entry. I mean… what can I say about this. We had a similar case in last year´s European Championships in Bilbao, where at least some of the athletes knew before the race about the changed location of the finishline. Now it´s the World Championships. More than one third of athletes racing that day were aquabikers. The aquabike race had more participating athletes than some of the other competitions during the Mulitsport World Championships. But for some reason it seems like nobody gives a **** about this discipline. I mean, come on… It´s not rocket science to take a few minutes to think about the location of the finishline of the aquabike race and then also implement it. And if you fail to do so, is there really no way to communicate this to the athletes BEFORE the race?
I really feel like a stuck record, speaking up about this issue. I hope race organizers will learn but even more, I hope World Triathlon will pay more attention to it in the big events. I don´t know if the unknown location of the finishline had any influence on any medal decisions. In the M55 age group there were four athletes finishing within 22 seconds. I really wonder if they all crossed the intended finishline in the same order as the T2 entry. It wasn´t about the medals, but about 5th to 8th place of the race. But I still wouldn´t like to be in 8th place in the official results, if I actually finished my race in 5th spot.
Some Tour de France Glamour
By the way, one of this pack of four – actually the one who appeared in 8th place in the results – is quite a big name, coming from the world of cycling. François SIMON wore the yellow jersey in the Tour de France in 2001 for three days, finishing the Grand Boucle in 6th place overall. In Ibiza he competed in his first aquabike race. The fact that he “only” had the 5th fastest bike split in the M55 age group shows quite well how many strong athletes are now competing in this multisport discipline.
Encouraging Numbers & impressive statistics
We still had a few less athletes at the startline of the aquabike race than in pre-covid World Championships. But with athletes from 29 countries from all six continents and medal winners from 18 countries this was by far the most international field of aquabike athletes so far.
It´s no surprise that the United States again won the most medals (16) in the aquabike age groups. Six British athletes took the gold medal – just as many as US athletes did. Team GB went home with 11 medals overall – the same number as hosting country Spain. In the men´s competition only it was actually Spain who took the most medals, since nine of their podium spots were taken by male athletes. New Zealand athletes won 7 medals, while France and Germany took five podium finishes. Norway and Iceland are the new countries on the aquabike championships medal table, both taking their first titles in this multisport discipline. Iceland with the fastest woman and Norway with the oldest finisher of the race. Chapeu to Geir INGOLFSRUD who finished the race in 07:06:47, leaving some of the much younger competitors behind.
Long Distance Aquabike World Championships 2023 Ibiza Medal Table
| Rank | Country |  |  |  |
| 1. | United States of America | 16 | 7 | 4 |
| 2. | United Kingdom | 8 | 5 | 2 |
| 3. | Spain | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 4. | Germany | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 5. | New Zealand | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 6. | Poland | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 7. | Canada | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 8. | Brazil | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 9. | Norway | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 10. | France | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 11. | Ireland | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 12. | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 13. | Iceland | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 14. | Italy | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 15. | Czechia | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 16. | Australia | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 17. | Austria | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 18. | Denmark | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 19. | Netherlands | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 20. | South Africa | 0 | 0 | 1 |
It was the seventh Aquabike World Championships Race (six long distance and one standard distance). Robert SMARTT is the only athlete to finish on the podium in every single one of them. In Ibiza he took the title in the M65 category – his 5th gold medal in aquabike world championships.
The most successfull women in Aquabike World Championship races come from Great Britain. While four-time champions Amy Pritchard and Maria Powell were absent, Guernsey athlete Andrea Nightingale also took her fourth title, winning the F60 age group in Ibiza. She also has a bronze medal in her Palmarés, making her now the most successfull female aquabike athlete in World Championship races.
Including also national titles US athletes Kurt HOLT and Amber SMOLIK both grabbed their 10th medal in aquabike championships, making them the most successful aquabike athletes.
So that was the 2023 Long Distance Aquabike World Championship. Hope you enjoyed the read. Congratulations to all finishers from all over the world. See you at the finishline at the Standard Distance World Championships in September in Pontevedra – wherever it might be located…