Nearly three months after the Ironman 70.3 Jönköping European Championship, Lena Meissner has officially been declared the winner following a successful appeal to the Swedish Triathlon Federation.
On July 6, the race came down to a shoulder-to-shoulder, or more accurately elbow-to-elbow, sprint between two Germans: Meissner and Caroline Pohle. To spectators on site and those who replayed the finish on video, the athletes were inseparable until the very last stride. Meissner broke the tape first, with the on-the-ground call from race officials confirming her as the champion.
Unlike athletics, triathlon does not employ high-speed photo-finish technology to determine results down to the thousandth of a second. Rarely does the sport need it. Moments like the Paris 2024 Olympic 100m final, where Noah Lyles edged Kishane Thompson by thousandths, are outliers in endurance sport. But in Jönköping, it was precisely that kind of razor-thin finish that set the stage for weeks of dispute.
In the minutes after the finish, Pohle filed a formal protest, alleging she was blocked by Meissner in the final meters. The head referee passed the matter to the competition jury, which reviewed video and photographic evidence. The jury concluded that Meissner had impeded Pohle’s run, though not intentionally, and made the unprecedented decision to change the order of finish. Pohle was declared the winner, and Meissner was relegated to second.
The ruling sparked immediate controversy. For many, it felt like a referee overturning a valid goal in soccer and inventing a new scoreline. The unusual penalty, changing the finishing order without applying a 30 second time penalty, had no clear basis in the Ironman competition rules.
Meissner and her team filed an appeal within the three-day window allowed by Swedish Triathlon regulations. The federation’s technical committee conducted a full review, gathering statements from the head referee, jury members, and race organizers. Their findings were clear: the jury had committed two legal errors. First, they should not have accepted a protest against a referee’s judgment call unless there was evidence of bias or bad faith. Second, they imposed a sanction not permitted under the official Ironman rules.
On August 27, the Swedish Triathlon Federation board unanimously approved the appeal. The earlier jury decision was declared invalid, and Meissner was reinstated as the rightful champion of Ironman 70.3 Jönköping and the 2025 European Champion.
Meissner shared her relief in a social media post just hours after the decision: “70.3 European Champion (again). Surrounded myself with the best team, and we never stopped believing. Thank you all for the endless support I’ve received over the past few months!!!”
For Meissner, the ruling closes the chapter on one of triathlon’s rare photo-finish controversies, allowing her to finally celebrate the victory she earned at the line.
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