Greece’s Panagiotis Bitados blasted to a brilliant victory at IRONMAN 70.3 European Championship Tallinn 2024 on Sunday as he shocked a number of big names to claim a famous win.
The 20-year-old Bitados surged to the front at the halfway stage of the closing run to claim the lead from Germany’s Leonard Arnold, while Belgium’s Olympics star Jelle Geens could not go with the searing pace. They would fill the remaining podium places.
British Olympics star Sam Dickinson finished out of the podium places while Belgium’s Pieter Heemeryck, the reigning champion, was a DNF.
Swim – Butters blasts off
Young German pro Hannes Butters blasted off at the front of the swim, which had been moved from Lake Harku due to sub-standard water quality. Instead the 22-year-old was leading the way in the waters of the Baltic, and he built a lead of a fraction under 30 seconds as he made the long sprint into T1.
Dickinson was next behind Butters in second, with Switzerland’s Fabian Meussen a further seven seconds back in third. Right with Meussen was American Marc Dubrick. The eventual winner Bitados was 39 seconds off the pace in seventh.
Geens was 38 seconds off the pace in sixth while his compatriot Heemeryck – who enjoyed such a terrific 2023 season – was 1:53 back in 22nd position.
Bike – Kallin’s super surge
Anybody who expected the chasers to immediately start cutting chunks out of Butters’ lead would be disappointed, as the German increased his advantage over Dickinson to a minute in the first 20km of the bike leg.
By halfway on the bike though there was a big move from Sweden’s Robert Kallin, up to second and a minute behind the leader Butters. Germany’s Nils Lorenz was right with the Scandanavian star as he sat in third. Meanwhile Heemeryck (+1:22) had bridged up to fourth as he headed a group which also included the Pole Kacper Stepniak and Geens in fifth and sixth. Dickinson had fallen back to 11th, and he was now 1:35 off the pace.
At 66km on the bike, Kallin was really putting the power down as he cut the gap on Butters to just 16 seconds, and separated from the rest of the chasers. He was 25 seconds clear of Lorenz in third, while Heemeryck was 1:37 back in fifth. Geens meanwhile was seventh – at 1:42 off the lead.
Kallin’s surge on the bike would take him to the front in the final stages of the leg, and by the time he entered T2 at the front of affairs he had a lead of 29 seconds over Butters. But more importantly perhaps, his advantage over Bitados, Heemeryck, Geens and Dickinson was around the four-minute mark. The chasers had much work to do.
Kallin’s bike split – on a course which per the IRONMAN broadcast team was 1 mile long – was 1:57:20. The fastest of the day by more than two-and-a-half minutes.
Run – Kallin blows up as Bitados pours it on
Kallin’s massive effort on the bike would soon have consequences as the Swede started to come back to the chasers early on the run course. By the time the field went through 7km Robert had dropped all the way to fourth as Arnold took over at the front. We had a thriller in prospect with Greek ace Bitados now just 22 seconds back in second and Geens a further 30 seconds back in bronze medal position.
Bitados wasted no time in cutting that gap to Arnold and he made the pass for the lead as they reached 10km. Geens was 57 seconds away in third – could he make that short-course class tell over the final 10km? One of the big pre-race favourites Heemeryck meanwhile was already a DNF.
Having graced Super League (now supertri) a couple of years back, and with solid draft-legal form, Bitados was proving that previous results were no fluke as he really upped the pace to drop Arnold. The German had no answer to a series of attacks, and it looked like a decisive effort by the Greek ace. With just 3km remaining he led by 42 seconds over Arnold, with Geens actually falling away in third back to a deficit of 2:29.
There was no stopping Bitados now, and he romped home to victory by closing the show with a 1:09:18 half-marathon. He was 36 seconds clear of Arnold in second, with Geens third. Dickinson would eventually finish in 20th position.
IRONMAN 70.3 Tallinn Results
Sunday August 25, 2024 – Tallinn, Estonia
Pro Men
- 1. Panagiotis Bitados (GRE) – 3:36:09 (21:46/2:02:49/1:09:18)
- 2. Leonard Arnold (GER) – 3:36:45 (23:06/1:59:58/1:11:04)
- 3. Jelle Geens (BEL) – 3:39:13 (21:45/2:03:00/1:12:20)
- 4. Kacper Stepniak (POL) – 3:39:52 (21:50/2:02:53/1:13:04)
- 5. Justus Nieschlag (GER) – 3:41:57 (21:52/2:02:58/1:14:46)
