Vansteelant, Nyström win Zofingen
Joerie Vansteelant of Belgium and Eva Nyström of Sweden won the men’s and women’s titles at Powerman Zofingen, which also serves as the 2012 ITU long course duathlon World championship.
Vansteelant finished in 6:07:58 with a 4:36 margin of victory over runner-up Rob Woestenborghs of Belgium and 13:40 over 3rd-place Sören Bystrup of Denmark.
Vansteelant combined a tied-for-2nd-best 30:32 10k run, a race-fastest 3:43:00 bike split, and a best-of-the-day 1:52:21 run split. In his first crack at Zofingen, Woestenborghs led the first run in 30:28, posted the 2nd fastest 3:43:02 bike split that left him virtually tied with Vansteelant. Then on the demanding, hilly 30k run, Woestenbroghs’ 4th best 1:56:56 split left him the silver, 4:36 arrears.
Joerie Vansteelant now has three Powerman Zofingen wins (2009, 2011, and 2012), one more than his late brother Benny Vansteelant, a duathlon legend who also had 4 ITU short distance duathlon world titles and 4 ITU long distance duathlon world titles.
Vansteelant’s time for the 10 kilometer run, 150 kilometer bike leg and 30 kilometer run was just 43 seconds slower than his 2011 winning time.
Nyström finished in 7:05:48 with a 4:21 margin of victory over runner-up Lucy Gossage of Great Britain and 19:37 over 3rd-place finisher May Kerstens of the Netherlands.
Nyström’s opening salvo, a 5th-best 35:45 run, left her 51 seconds back of Lucy Gossage’s women’s-fastest 34:54 10k. Nyström took control on the bike as her race-best 4:20:00 out split Gossage by 7:30. While Gossage’s race-best 2:05:02 run earned back 2:20 of Nyström’s lead, it left the Britisher 4:21 behind at the tape.
Nystrom, 30, has a long multisport career which includes a 2nd place team finish at the 2003 Raid Gauloises adventure race, 2nd place at the 2006 ITU World Championship Winter Triathlon, runner-up finishes at the 2007 and 2009 editions of Powerman Zofingen, and 6th at Ironman South Africa in 2008. Currently Nyström is number one in the Powerman Duathlon World Rankings.
Powerman Zofingen – ITU long course duathlon World Championship
Zofingen, Switzerland
September 2, 2012
R 10k / B 150 k / R 30k
Results
Men
1. Joerie Vansteelant (BEL) 6:07:58
2. Rob Woestenborghs (BEL) 6:12:34
3. Sören Bystrup (DEN) 6:21:38
4. Thibaut Humbert (FRA) 6:53:52
5. Beat Ritter (SUI) 6:26:40
6. Anthony Le Duey (FRA) 6:34:19
7. Eneas Freyre (USA) 6:34:26
8. Jochen Neyrinck (BEL) 6:36:19
9. David Duquesnoy (FRA) 6:37:14
10. Esben Kaczmarek (DEN) 6:40:45
Women
1. Eva Nyström (SWE) 7:05:48
2. Lucy Gossage (GBR) 7:10:09
3. May Kerstens (NED) 7:25:25
4. Karin Gerber (SUI) 7:32:37
5. Simone Helfenschneider-Ofner (AUT) 7:33:17
6. Maja Jacober (SUI) 7:34:02
7. Melanie Burke (NZL) 7:40:40
8. Susanne Svendsen (DEN) 7:44:51
9. Natascha Schmitt (GER) 7:46:28
10. Katrin Esefeld (GER) 7:48:15
