Anne Haug: Background, career highlights, quotes
Germany's Anne Haug came to triathlon a little later than her peers, but this hasn't stopped the Ironman world champion. Here's how the long-distance star got to where she is today...
A late developer when it came to triathlon, Anne Haug was a strong and resilient competitor in WTS racing, but her conversion to long-course competition took her to new heights. The highest of these was winning at Kona in 2019.
Here’s Haug’s story so far…
Who is Anne Haug?
Even before she took her place at triathlon’s top table, Germany’s Anne Haug was already something of a sporting polymath, showing prowess at a range of sports, including tennis, skiing, volleyball, badminton and judo.
Indeed, Haug was already a world champion at indiaca, a Brazilian version of volleyball where a giant shuttlecock replaces the ball.
As such, Haug was a late convert to triathlon, only turning pro at the age of 27. At first, her travails aren’t particularly auspicious. Certainly her first season as part of the ITU World Triathlon Series is decidedly anonymous.
But the following year, 2012, represents a remarkable breakthrough, with Haug registering six top-10 finishes in the series, including a maiden victory in Auckland. It ensures that she earns overall silver.
An overall WTS bronze in 2013 is followed by a handful of less successive seasons, resulting in Haug’s transition to half-Iron competition in 2017. It’s arguably the best decision of her career.
She takes to long-course racing like the proverbial duck encountering water for the first time, very comfortably winning her first race, IM 70.3 Lanzarote. Haug’s full Ironman debut arrives the following year, since when Haug has raced both distances to strong effect.
The absolute pinnacle of her career to date’s undoubtedly her victory at the Ironman worlds in 2019, where she held off all rivals while posting a phenomenal time.
Keeping hold of the title through various Covid-affected cancellations and postponements, Haug relinquished it to Swiss powerhouse Daniela Ryf in May 2022 (the postponed 2021 Worlds) with a bronze.
At the 2022 Worlds in Kona, in October, she collected another bronze as newbie Chelsea Sodaro grabbed the title and the headlines.
A year later and a marathon course record saw her take silver behind Lucy Charles-Barclay.
She also took the world long-course record at Roth in July 2024.
How old is Anne Haug?
Anne Haug was born on 20 January 1983, making her 41 years of age.
Anne Haug’s career highlights
April 2011: A maiden senior triumph
Haug scores her first elite victory when she breaks the tape in the European Cup race in Quarteira in Portugal ahead of her compatriot Rebecca Robisch.
April 2012: An WTS reputation is building
After the 2011 season brought a string of unremarkable results in the ITU World Triathlon Series, Haug enjoys her first top-10 finish in the series, coming home seventh in Sydney.
This is followed by another seventh placing in San Diego, plus fourth places in both Hamburg and Stockholm.
August 2012: Olympic debut
Haug makes her Olympic debut, surprising the competition by coming an impressive 11th after only a couple years of racing as a pro.
October 2012: A grand finish in the Grand Final
After silver in Yokohama, a final breakthrough season is capped with victory in the WTS Grand Final in Auckland.
It gives Haug overall silver in the series, sandwiched between world champion Lisa Nordén of Sweden and New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt.
July 2013: A collective effort yields a world title
As a member of Germany’s mixed relay team, Haug wins world championship gold in Hamburg, having won the elite women’s race the day before. Haug finishes the season third in the series, an overall bronze to add to last season’s silver.
August 2016: Haug competes in the Rio 2016 Olympics
She doesn’t make it into a breakaway and comes 36th overall in the women’s race.
September 2017: Haug switches up and goes long
After a few more seasons of WTS competition in which she never repeats her previous highs, Haug marks her move up to middle-distance racing by winning her first-ever IM 70.3 event.
In Lanzarote, she takes 11 minutes out of Lucy Charles-Barclay on the run to win by nearly eight minutes.
July 2018: A highly satisfactory Ironman debut
Ten months after her debut in Lanzarote (during which time she collects further 70.3 victories and California), Haug enters her first Ironman – in her home country – and finishes a credible fourth. There’s no medal, but it’s enough to qualify for Kona.
October 2018: Double Ironman world bronze
In September, Haug takes bronze at the IM 70.3 worlds behind Daniela Ryf and Lucy Charles-Barclay. Six weeks later at her debut Kona, that podium is replicated, meaning Haug is a double IM bronze medallist in her first season at both distances.
August 2019: Wins her first Ironman
Breaks the home crowd’s heart by taking the win at Ironman Copenhagen ahead of Danish athletes Camilla Pedersen and Maja Stage Nielsen.
October 2019: Haug achieves the ultimate – the Kona crown is hers
Injury seriously disrupts Haug’s season but she recovers just in time for Kona. Despite a disruptive past few months, the stars align in Hawaii and the German finishes more than six minutes ahead of Charles-Barclay in the third-fastest time recorded by a woman on the course.
Here’s how the German star took Kona victory for the first time.
September 2021: Another blue riband win on the CV
With no Ironman world championships this year because of the ongoing pandemic, Haug stays closer to home and wins the prestigious Challenge Roth.
May 2022: A podium place, but an unsuccessful defence of her crown
Back to full-distance racing, in St George in Utah, Haug takes bronze in the rearranged Ironman world championships postponed from the previous autumn.
It’s an unsuccessful defence of her title, but Daniela Ryf is again imperious in victory. A second world championships in 2022 will offer Haug the opportunity to restate her claim for the Kona crown.
July 2022: Rules in Roth
Spends the race playing chase after GB’s Fenella Langridge, but the overtake mid-marathon ensures title retention over the iconic German long-distance course.
August 2022: Wins for Europe in the Collins Cup
Haug makes it four wins from six for Team Europe, as the German holds off Canadian Tamara Jewett and USA’s Jackie Hering to take the tape.
October 2022: Bronze in Kona
After “burning too many matches” on the bike, she’s unable to put in the blistering marathon she was hoping to in order to retain her Ironman world title.
But a third place behind a resurgent Charles-Barclay and the remarkable rookie Chelsea Sodaro is still an outstanding performance from the German powerhouse.
She still ends the year topping the PTO rankings.
March 2023: Starts the year with a bang
Smashes the competition – including most of the men’s field – with a 1:16:28 run split to win Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote with 12mins in hand over GB’s India Lee.
A month later she wins Challenge Mogán-Gran Canaria – and again, 12 minutes clear of the runner-up.
May 2023: Wins PTO European Open
Haug unleashes her fearsome run speed to win the PTO European Open in Ibiza against one of the finest women’s fields assembled in non-drafting racing.
June 2023: Second in Roth
Battles for the second podium slot – after Daniela Ryf smashes the course record – but eventually comes out on top with a 2:44:45 marathon ahead of Roth debutant Laura Philipp in third.
August 2023: Second at PTO Asian Open
Haug’s chances of victory are derailed when tape from her own bike becomes entangled in her rear wheel towards the end of the bike leg, costing her valuable minutes as she rectifies the issue.
It means Ashleigh Gentle reverses the one-two finish with Haug from Ibiza in May.
October 2023: Second in Kona and smashes the marathon record
Takes the chase to eventual winner Lucy Charles-Barclay, but just falls short, 3mins down with a time of 8:27:33. A 2:48:23 marathon is enough to take the Kona run record, though.
May 2024: Breaks a lot of records at Lanza
Has a slow start to the season due to illness but after three 70.3 Lanza victories, Haug rocks up the full distance and makes a mockery of it – her winning 9:06:40 time shatters Paula Newby-Fraser’s record set way back in 1995 (9:24:39) by almost 18 minutes.
She also set new bike (5:17:49) and run (2:49:08) records and finishes an embarrassing 43 minutes ahead of France’s Jeanne Collonge (9:50:24) and two-time defending champ Lydia Dant (9:54:54).
July 2024: Fastest long-course woman in the world
Rocks up at Challenge Roth having made a late call to join the start line and not only takes her third Roth victory but also breaks Daniela Ryf’s world long-course record from just last year by almost 6mins with a time of 8:02:38.
September 2024: A consolation sixth in Ibiza
After an agonising mechanical DNF at the Ironman Worlds in Nice just a week prior, Haug heads to the White Isle and places a solid sixth, in what would be her best T100 result of the year.
Anne Haug in quotes
On winning at Kona in 2019: “My preparation was everything other than perfect because I was injured almost half a year before that. I couldn’t run. I managed to qualify on the last possible date in Copenhagen, so my preparation was non-existent. But on the day everything came together.”
On failing to successfully defend her Ironman title in 2022, after the competition’s enforced and prolonged absence: “You can’t have an eyeball on a world championship title. Every race starts from zero and you have to show your very best to be on the podium. And Daniela was unbeatable today.”
On what motivates her at the age of 39: “I keep going because I still think there is more to come. I don’t really care about my age. I feel 25.”
What’s next for Anne Haug?
Perhaps one more shot at the Ironman World title, in Kona no less for 2025? Oh we do hope so!
Nige Tassell
Freelance sportswriter 
