Mary Beth Ellis Earns World Title at Long Distance Triathlon Worlds

MOTALA, Sweden — Elite triathlete Mary Beth Ellis of Boulder finished first and second at the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships, held Saturday, June 27.

Mary Beth Ellis won her first ITU world title on Saturday. (Janos M. Schmidt/ITU)

With the swim shortened to 1,500 meters due to cold water temperatures, followed by a 120-kilometer bike and 30-kilometer run, Ellis (Boulder, Colo.) claimed her first career ITU world title in 5 hours, 24 minutes, 25 seconds.

No stranger to long-distance racing with eight IRONMAN wins under her belt, Ellis led the field of elite women from start to finish, gaining an early lead with the fastest swim and bike times of the day. She had the second-fastest run, which led her to clinch the world title with a gap of more than seven minutes ahead of Camilla Pedersen of Denmark, who was second in 5:31:48.

“Over the past year, I have struggled to race up to my potential,” Ellis said. “To finally execute on the biggest stage at a world championships representing the USA and carrying the American flag across the finish line for the first time in my career was not only a validation of all the hard work but also a dream come true.”

In the age-group races, Schrock (Cohasset, Minn.) won gold in the women’s 60-64 division in 7:54:15, adding to the silver medal she won at last year’s Long Distance Triathlon Worlds. Schrock won her age group by a gap of 14 minutes thanks to a speedy bike leg. Weber (New York, N.Y.) repeated as the men’s 75-79 world champion with a time of 9:56:31.

Team USA also picked up two silver medals and one bronze on Saturday. Matthew Zupan (Wildwood, Mo.) was second in the men’s 18-19 age group, and Dave Slavinski (Point Pleasant, N.J.) finished second in the men’s 40-44 age group, logging a time of 5:22:54 for the second-fastest overall time of the day among all age-group competitors. Marty Frezza (Jupiter, Fla.) took third in the men’s 70-74 age group, finishing on the podium for the second straight year.

Team USA is comprised of the nation’s top amateur triathletes who represent the United States at each ITU world championship event.