---
title: "Merle Brunnée wins fifth world championship gold in Zofingen; record-holding world champion"
sdDatePublished: "2026-09-06T17:10:00Z"
source: "https://powerman.ch/en/2026/09/06/merle-brunnee-makes-sports-history-with-her-5th-world-championship-title-emile-blondel-hermant-smashes-the-course-record/"
topics:
  - name: "sport event"
    identifier: "medtop:20001108"
  - name: "duathlon"
    identifier: "medtop:20000922"
  - name: "sport achievement"
    identifier: "medtop:20001301"
locations:
  - "Zofingen"
  - "Switzerland"
  - "Germany"
  - "Belgium"
  - "France"
  - "United Kingdom"
---


Merle Brunnée wins fifth world championship gold in Zofingen; record-holding world champion

Merle Brunnée Makes Sports History with Her 5th World Championship Title – Émile Blondel-Hermant Smashes the Course Record

ZOFINGEN – A historic triumph and spectacular title battles at the world’s toughest duathlon: Germany’s Merle Brunnée won her fifth world championship gold medal on Sunday at the World Triathlon Powerman Long Distance Championships in Zofingen and is now the undisputed record-holding world champion. In the men’s race, France’s Émile Blondel-Hermant celebrated a dominant victory with a new course record, while the Swiss team suffered a bitter disappointment. In total, more than 700 athletes from 40 nations competed in all categories at this duathlon.

This year’s high-profile event took place under the watchful eye of World Triathlon President Antonio Arimany. The federation’s top official was deeply impressed by the atmosphere and the flawless organization, and officially designated Zofingen as the “capital of duathlon.”

Participants also enjoyed ideal conditions on the challenging courses around Zofingen. Warm temperatures—especially after noon—pushed the athletes to their limits once again during the final kilometers, but at the same time drew a large crowd of spectators along the course and led to historic record times.

In the men’s race, Émile Blondel-Hermant put on a true display of dominance. The Frenchman pulled away from the field early on and crossed the finish line with a historic, record-breaking time of 5:50:30 hours. With this performance, Blondel-Hermant was a full eight minutes faster than the previous course record and secured the world championship title with a lead of exactly twelve minutes over Belgium’s Jonathan Wayaffe.

Blondel-Hermant thus celebrated his second World Championship title in Zofingen since 2024 and impressively avenged his unfortunate performance the previous year, when he was forced to withdraw early from the race at the start of the cycling segment due to a mechanical failure. Rounding out the podium was last year’s French champion, Baptiste Domanico, who had to settle for third place this time around.

The Swiss athletes, on the other hand, had absolutely no chance, as their home race turned out to be extremely unfortunate. The Swiss athletes most frequently mentioned in the run-up to the race played no role in the battle for the top spots: Swiss co-favorite Jens-Michael Gossauer was forced to withdraw from the race early. Benjamin Ueltschi was hit even harder, as he was unable to even take the starting line due to health issues.

The women’s extreme long-distance race (10 km run, 150 km bike, and 30 km run) turned into a thrilling title defense. Merle Brunnée didn’t let even a scare throw her off course: A fall caused her to suffer a minor setback, but fortunately she was able to continue the race. She quickly rebuilt her lead, went all out on the bike, and decisively pulled away from the international competition. During the final 30-kilometer run, Brunnée controlled the pace from the front and crossed the finish line in 6:45:51 hours, nearly seven minutes ahead of second-place finisher Rachel Brown of Great Britain.

“The fact that I actually managed to win my fifth title and set the record all by myself feels absolutely surreal,” said the newly crowned record-holding world champion, overjoyed at the finish line.