Joe Skipper admits he had a major reality check when it came to competing at Challenge Roth this year.

The British triathlon star came 14th at the iconic race in Germany this week in a time of 7:55:28.

Skipper was happy with his performance. But admitted on Instagram to realising how far the sport has come and how high the standard has gone up since his first crack at the iconic race nine years ago.

Moved on

He posted: “Thank you for all the support on course and congratulations to the podium. In 2016 I was the first Brit to break 8 hours. Today it was good enough for 14th 🤯 #challengeroth #triathlon #swimbikerun #woof.”

Skipper’s time of 7:56:23 in 2016 was good enough for second place, showing just how far things have moved on in the sport in that time.

The 37-year-old also finished fifth at Roth in 2023 in 7:44:10, his best ever time at the event. And he actually finished quicker in 2025 than he did in 2017, when his 8:03:00 was good enough for another second place.

For Skipper, that just shows how competitive the sport has now become. But he revealed he was especially pleased with one aspect of his performance this week.

“Best ever”

He said: “I always knew a non-wetsuit swim would make it a hard day out (yes I know I need to work on my swim) but what the result doesn’t show is my best ever bike power for a full.

“Run reflected riding 15 watts higher than IMNZ and 50 watts higher than Austria…. While I would have liked to finish higher up I’m actually really happy with this race.”

Skipper was a DNF at IRONMAN Austria last month but started his season well by finishing second at IRONMAN New Zealand in March and is hoping there is more success to come.

And the Norwich native is just happy to competing again at all after coming back from the brink this season following a series of setbacks.

It got to a point where he almost retired last year, and he has decided not to target the IRONMAN Pro Series in 2025, preferring to put his focus firmly elsewhere instead.