Matevž Nunar takes his first professional win in Mallorca as Cathia Schär defends her title

Slovenia’s Matevž Nunar won Challenge Peguera-Mallorca on 17 October, overtaking Alexander Kull in the final kilometre of the half marathon for his first professional victory. Switzerland’s Cathia Schär won the women’s race for the second year in a row.

Nunar finished the middle-distance race, a 1.9 km swim, 90 km bike and 21 km run, in 3 hours 42 minutes 38 seconds, according to the organiser’s results. Kull was second, 21 seconds back, and Jack Hutchens third in 3:43:12, a second ahead of Michiel Stockman. Britain’s Will Draper, the pre-race favourite, was fifth in 3:43:49.

“Honestly, I can’t believe what happened,” Nunar said after the race, according to Triathlon Today.

A late run in the men’s race

The men’s race was led from the front for most of the day. Severin Schwarz and Leon Pauger came out of the water together in 23:33, about a minute ahead of a chasing group that included Kull, Hutchens and Daniel Tolosa, Triathlon Today reported. Draper was 1:40 down leaving the first transition.

Pauger then rode clear and started the run with a lead of around two minutes. Draper tried to bridge across on the bike but could not close the gap.

Pauger faded on the run. By halfway Kull had taken the lead, and he looked set to win until Nunar came through from behind and passed him in the last kilometre. Only 34 seconds separated the first three men, and 71 seconds covered the top five.

Schär doubles up

The women’s race was a two-way contest between Schär and Germany’s Caroline Pohle. Pohle led out of the water in 26:58 with Schär just behind, and the pair rode together for most of the bike leg. Pohle built a lead of about a minute late on the bike, but Schär had closed it by the second transition. The rest of the field was four minutes or more behind.

Pohle faded early on the run, and Schär passed her within the first few kilometres to finish alone in 4:10:13. Pohle was second in 4:11:48 and Laura Jansen third in 4:13:17. Marta Bernardi and Anne Reischmann completed the top five.

Schär said she had stomach problems early in the run but felt better once she found her rhythm, Triathlon Today reported. “I didn’t know how it was going to be, but I had amazing memories from last year,” she said.

Those memories are of her breakthrough. Schär won her first professional race in Mallorca in 2025 and then won Challenge Barcelona seven days later, according to Triathlon Today’s race preview. Pohle came to the race in strong form, with 2026 wins at Challenge Mogán-Gran Canaria, The Championship, Challenge St. Pölten and Ironman 70.3 Leipzig, and fifth place on her long-distance debut at Challenge Roth.

The last Challenge edition

The 2026 race was one of the last under the Challenge Family name. The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) bought a majority stake in Challenge Family in February, and from 2027 its races move into the new Triathlon World Tour run by the PTO and World Triathlon.

Peguera-Mallorca is on the T100 Challenger calendar for 16–17 October 2027, listed as the Peguera-Mallorca Triathlon. Challenge Family said its events “will race under Triathlon World Tour names from 2027, with their existing organisers and host cities”.

The format changes too. Challenge Family’s race page lists the 2027 event over the “100” distance: a 2 km swim, 80 km bike and 18 km run, the format used in the PTO’s T100 series. The page describes a two-lap bike course in the foothills of the Serra de Tramuntana and a four-lap run through Peguera and along its seafront.