Kienle, van Vlerken in Germany
Sebastian Kienle overcame a 1:27 deficit to Andreas Böcherer and Mathias Hecht after the bike and held off the swift-running onslaught of Michael Raelert by 51 seconds to win the Sparkasse Ironman Germany 70.3 in Wiesbaden in a record time of 4:04:34. Hecht finished third, 27 seconds back of Raelert, Böcherer fourth in 4:07:30 and last year’s runner-up Alessandro Degasperi fifth in 4:08:34.
Kienle, known for his bike prowess, bested the course record of last year’s champion Faris Al-Sultan by 5:52. Al-Sultan finished sixth, the same position he placed at the Frankfurter Sparkasse Ironman in July, in 4:11:47.
"I am a very strong cyclist, so the course in Wiesbaden fits me very well. But the swiming was awful. I lost more than three minutes to Michael Raelert and I know that he can run very fast," said Kienle to slowtwitch. "So I tried everything on the bike to take the lead, to put some pressure on him and make it a race between him and me. But Andreas Böcherer and Mathias Hecht pushed so hard on the bike. I cut of 1:30 minutes in the first half, but I wasn't able to get closer than two minutes. On the last downhill I was able to cut off an other 30 seconds. On the run I tried to make my race. But it was very difficult, there where so many spectators and I over paced the first ten kilometers. I caught Mathias and Andreas at the 7k mark. Still a long way to go and I saw Raelert flying from behind, so I was not sure about the victory till the last turnaround. The feeling at the finish line was awesome – one of the best things in life, no matter if first or last!"
Ironman Hawaii second-place finisher Yvonne Van Vlerken took the lead in the last 10 kilometers of the bike and held off Finland’s Tiina Boman by 2 minutes 1 second to win at Wiesbaden in a course record time of 4:42:46. Van Vlerken overcame a typically slow 31:24 swim – 3:24 back of Boman – to break Virginia Berasategui’s 2008 course record by 52 seconds.
Sparkasse Finanzgruppe Ironman Germany 70.3
Wiesbaden, Germany / August 16, 2009
1.9 km swim / 90 km bike / 21.1 km run
Top 10 men
1. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 4:04:34
2. Michael Raelert (GER) 4:05:25
3. Mathias Hecht (SUI) 4:05:52
4. Andreas Böcherer (GER) 4:07:30
5. Alessandro Degasperi (ITA) 4:08:34
6. Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 4:11:47
7. Konstantin Bachor (GER) 4:13:21
8. Uwe Widmann (GER) 4:15:55
9. Cyril Viennot (FRA) 4:16:27 *
10. Vincent Riess (AUT) 4:18:52 *
Top 10 women
1. Yvonne van Vlerken (NED) 4:42:46
2. Tiina Boman (FIN) 4:44:47
3. Eva Jannsen (NED) 4:47:40 *
4. Andrea Steinbecher (GER) 4:49:27
5. Wenke Kujala (GER) 4:51:56
6. Nicole Töpfer (GER) 4:58:41
7. Nina Kuhn (GER) 5:01:48
8. Sonja Jaarsveld (NED) 5:03:03
9. Meike Krebs (GER) 5:03:42
10. Anna Baylis-Scheiderbauer (GER) 5:08:34 *
* = AG athletes
