Al-Sultan, Möller win Lanzarote
Germans Faris Al-Sultan and Kristin Möller won the men’s and women’s titles by wide margins at Ironman Lanzarote.
Men
Al-Sultan led virtually wire-to-wire to finish in 8:42:40 with a 9 minute, 28 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Miquel Blanchart of Spain and 21 minutes, 29 seconds over 3rd place finisher Kirill Kotsegarov of Estonia.
Al-Sultan’s 2nd-fastest 47:48 swim was 3 seconds behind Stephen Bayliss of Great Britain, 2 seconds ahead of Philip Graves of Great Britain and 7 seconds ahead of Miquel Blanchart of Spain, but the 2005 Ironman World Champion blew the race open on the bike. After finishing Lanzarote’s 112-mile bike course, which features more than 8,000 feet of climbing, Al-Sultan’s dominant 4:53:03 split carved out a 9 minute 34 seconds lead over Graves and 11:07 over Blanchart.
Al-Sultan’s 3rd-fastest 2:55:03 marathon easily held off Blanchart’s 2nd-fastest 2:54:20 run to seal the victory. Kirill Kotsegarov of Estonia held a distant third with 2:58:58 run and Graves faded to 4th place with a 3:07:24 run in Lanzarote’s broiling heat. Bert Jammaer of Belgium made up for an off-form 5:19:09 bike split with a race-fastest 2:50:52 run to take 5th, 2:31 behind Graves. After a disappointing 5:18:58 bike split, Bayliss faded off the leaderboard with a 3:47:40 run.
The win was Al-Sultan’s first of 2013 and comes after an excellent 2012 season in which he won Ironman Austria, finished 2nd at Abu Dhabi International and was 5th at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii.
Women
Möller did not win wire to wire as her 1:00:03 swim was 8th-fastest and 5:17 behind swim leader Saleta Castro’s race-best 54:46. Möller’s race-fastest 5:31:47 bike split was 7:21 better than the next-fastest 5:39:08 split of Heleen Bij de Vaate of the Netherlands and gave her a commanding 12:59 lead over Bij de Vaate, 14:02 over Canadian Tara Norton and no hope to the rest of the field.
After her masterful 2:58:37 run, which was tied-for 5th best against the men’s field, Möller finished in 9:37:34 with a 31 minutes 57 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Bij de Vaate and 36 minutes, 53 seconds over 3rd-place Saleta Castro of Spain.
Moller’s impressive win on this legendary course adds to a growing resume of excellence which includes a 2nd place at Ironman Wisconsin in 2010, wins at Ironman UK and Ironman Wales in 2011, and a 3rd at Ironman France and a win at Ironman 70.3 Italy last year.
Ironman Lanzarote
Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain
May 18, 2013
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Men
1. Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 8:42:40
2. Miquel Blanchart (ESP) 8:52:08
3. Kirill Kotsegarov (EST) 9:04:09
4. Philip Graves (GBR) 9:04:17
5. Bert Jammaer (BEL) 9:06:48
6. Michael Wetzel (GER) 9:19:16
7. Diepart Xavier (BEL) 9:21:59
8. Timothy Van Houtem (BEL) 9:22:04 * M25-29
9. Klemen Rojnik (SLO) 9:25:05 * M30-34
10. Diego Paredes (ESP) 9:28:26 * M35-39
Women
1. Kristin Moller (GER) 9:37:34
2. Heleen Bij De Vaate (NED) 10:09:31
3. Saleta Castro (ESP) 10:14:28
4. Hanneke De Boer (NED) 10:28:46 * F30-34
5. Joyce Wolfe (IRL) 10:31:46
6. Barbara Schwarz (SUI) 10:51:28 * F30-34
7. Zsuzsuanna Harsanvi (HUN) 10:59:51
8. Line Foss (NOR) 11:05:41 * F35-39
9. Lydia Sommerfeld (GER) 11:12:12 * F25-29
10. Claire Shea-Simonds (GBR) 11:12:41 * F35-39
