Vanhoenacker, Lehtonen win Zell am See
Marino Vanhoenacker of Belgium and Kaisa Lehtonen of Finland scored decisive 70.3 victories at the site of the 2015 Ironman 70.3 Worlds – Zell am See-Kaprun.
Men
Lukasz Wojt of Germany crushed the swim in 22:27 which gave him a 1:35 lead on Manuel Küng of Switzerland and 2:01 to 2:07 over a pack of 7 men, including Mauro Pera of Italy, Lukas Hollaus of Austria, Marino Vanhoenacker of Belgium, Stuart Hayes of Great Britain, Paul Reitmayr of Austria, Markus Fachbach of Germany, and Maciej Chmura of Poland. Dangerous cyclist-runner Markus Thomschke of Germany started his day 3:18 arrears.
At 21km, Wojt took a 1:14 lead on Vanhoenacker, 1:17 on Küng, 1:40 on Reitmayr, and 1:43 on Fachbach and Hayes. At 34km, Vanhoenacker grabbed a 3 seconds lead on Wojt and 1:43 on Fachbach. By 59km, Vanhoenacker increased his leads to 1:13 on Wojt, 3:20 on Thomschke, and 3:22 on Fachbach.
After a race-best 2:12:54 bike split, Vanhoenacker hit T2 with a 4:28 lead on Wojt, 4:49 on Thomschke, 6:59 on Küng, 7:05 on Stefan Schmid of Germany, 7:07 on Hayes, 7:08 on Reitmayr, and 11:04 on Fachbach.
By 12 km of the run Vanhoenacker increased his lead to 6:13 over Thomschke, 6:30 over Hayes, 8:19 on Schmid, and 8:42 on Wojt.
After a 3rd-fastest 1:23:12 run, Vanhoenacker finished in 4:06:05 with a 5:18 margin of victory over Hayes (1:21:15 run), 5:31 over 3rd-place Thomschke, 7:18 over 4th place Schmid, and 8:37 over 5th place Michael Ruenz of Germany, who closed with a race-best 1:19:20 half marathon.
Earlier this year, Vanhoenacker won his 8th Ironman Austria.
Women
Kate Comber of Great Britain led the pro women’s wave with a 25:48 swim which gave her a 1:46 lead on countrywomen Emma Pallant, 2:50 on Tine Deckers of Belgium, 2:54 on Annett Finger of Germany, 2:56 on Lehtonen, and 4 minutes on Tine Holst of Denmark, Alexandra Tondeur of Belgium and Kamila Polak of Austria.
Comber kept her lead until 60km of the bike leg, when Lehtonen stormed past. After a women’s-fastest 2:30:55 bike split, Lehtonen arrived in T2 with a 2:06 lead on Tine Holst of Denmark (2:31:24 bike split), 3:09 on Pallant (2:35:08), 3:31 on Deckers, and 4:27 on Comber, and 5:01 on Alexandra Tondeur of Belgium.
After 3km of the run, Pallant surged past Holst into the runner-up spot, 2:56 behind Lehtonen and 34 seconds ahead of Holst. In the next 10km, Holst fought and took back 2nd position, 30 seconds ahead of Pallant. Lehtonen meanwhile increased her lead to 6 minutes.
After posting a women's-fastest 1:25:14 run split, the flying Finn finished in 4:30:11 with a 6:49 margin of victory over Holst and 8:06 over 3rd-place Pallant.
To put the performances in perspective, 2015 70.3 world champion Daniela Ryf finished the race in 4:11:34 and runner up Heather Wurtele finished in 4:23:07.
Still, Lehtonen’s long course résumé continues to impress. In 2015 she won Ironman Barcelona in 8:48:40 (the 28th fastest women’s time for the distance) and this year she won the 4,000 KPR points Ironman Regional Championship in South Africa and placed 3rd at Ironman 70.3 Dubai. Lehtonen ranks 12th woman in the 2016 KPR Points Ranking System and will contest at Kona.
Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun
Kaprun, Austria
August 28, 2016
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 4:06:05
2. Stuart Hayes (GBR) 4:11:23
3. Markus Thomschke (GER) 4:11:36
4. Stefan Schmid (GER) 4:13:23
5. Michael Ruenz (GER) 4:14:42
Women
1. Kaisa Lehtonen (FIN) 4:30:11
2. Tine Holst (DEN) 4:37:00
3. Emma Pallant (GBR) 4:38:17
4. Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) 4:41:20
5. Kamila Polak (AUT) 4:58:08
