Mirinda Carfrae crowned her phenomenal race to catch up
This year’s Ironman World Championships proved that the annual gathering of the best triathletes usually is decided on the run.
Conditions were hard with choppy waters and heavy winds. When leaving T2, Mirinda’s gap to Rachel Joyce run up to 14 minutes and 33 seconds. Victory seemed out of reach – but not for the Australian speedster. She quickly found her rhythm and passed one after another of the 7 athletes ahead of her. At around 6k to go, things came thick and fast. Rinny first flew past Joyce. Soon afterwards Swiss Daniela Ryf – a Hawaii rookie, the currant Ironman 70.3 World Champion and multiple winner of the season – was unable to respond. With an incredible marathon of 2:50:26 she even topped her last year’s marathon record by 12 seconds and crossed the finish line at Alii Drive as an Ironman World Champion for the third time.
Mirinda at the official press conference:
“It’s a bit crazy. To say that I am overwhelmed, that would be totally understated. The run was super hard. I had no choice but full gas. Before the race my coach had told me that everything over 10 minutes in T2 would be too much. As I jumped off the bike, I had more than 14 minutes. I was really shocked about my gap. I made a lot of pressure for the first 15 miles. The others were so far away, but I wouldn’t hand over my title to a rookie. Running along Palani Road, I thought that maybe I can still stay under 2:50 hours. My running record makes me proud, but a little disappointed at the same time, that I did not stay under 2:50. Being called a three-time winner next to Natascha Badmann and Chrissie Wellington, is just phenomenal.”
Top-3 Women:
1. Mirinda Carfrae
2. Daniela Ryf
3. Rachel Joyce
The men’s race saw a triumph of favorite Sebastian Kienle from Germany who put the hammer down around halfway through the bike leg. Reaching T2 his win never seemed at risk and he led the marathon from start to the end. He’s now the first triathlete to win the European Ironman and Word title in the same year.
Defending champion Belgian Frederik van Lierde summed up his race to Castelli just after the finish saying “the best guy won today. Congratulations to Sebastian. I had a good day and raced according to my plan but in the Energy Lab I had stomach cramps and side stitches and had to walk 3 times in 4 kilometers. Then I got better but the other guys had passed me. I was only 4 minutes from the podium, but I really felt good today.”
Fellow countryman and Castelli’s new team member Marino Vanhoenacker came off the bike in 3rd place and was running top 5 until the 19 mile mark but was forced to walk in from there as the legs couldn’t keep up. Marino told Belgian TV that this was his last Hawaii appearance but we beg him to reconsider.
Timothy O’Donnell tested a new lightweight run top prototype
Top-3 Men:
1. Sebastian Kienle
2. Ben Hoffman
3. Jan Frodeno
One of the more inspiring stories of the day comes from Castelli’s friend and athlete Alex Zanardi who took a weekend off from motor racing to complete his first Ironman. The former Formula 1 driver and London 2012 dual paralympic gold medalist came off a remarkable 1:08 swim to finish in 9:47.
