Wassner, Collington lead a U.S. sweep at IM Taiwan
Laurel Wassner topped Kate Bevilaqua and Kevin Collington beat Marino Vanhoenacker on an 84 degrees Fahrenheit and 85 percent humidity day at Ironman Taiwan.
Wassner led wire-to-wire with all three women's-best disciplines – 54:26 swim, 5:00:40 bike split and 3:49:13 marathon to finish in 9:50:21 with a 5-miles margin of victory over Kate Bevilaqua of Australia and 6-plus miles over 3rd place Charlotte Morel of France.
Collington also led the race wire-to-wire, combining a race-best 50:41 swim, a 2nd-fastest 4:34:30 bike split and a race-quickest 3:07:27 marathon to finish in 8:34:38 with a 12:01 margin of victory over Marino Vanhoenacker of Belgium and 35:07 over 3rd place finisher Simon Cochrane of New Zealand.
Women
Wassner led the two-lap swim at Shi Li Beach with a 54:26 split that gave her a 4 seconds lead on Charlotte Morel of France and 3 and a half minutes on a trio that included Kathryn Haesner of New Zealand, Kate Bevilaqua of Australia and Annah Watkinson of South Africa.
On the rugged bike course which demanded 1,267 meters of climbing at 52 kilometers, Morel and Wassner opened an 11 minutes lead on the chasers led by Bevilaqua. By 104km, Wassner opened a 3:39 lead on Morel with Bevilaqua 15:44 arrears in third. After a by-far fastest 5:00:40 bike split, Wassner led Morel by 14 minutes, Bevilaqua by 29 minutes and Danielle Mack by 39 minutes.
After a women’s-best 3:49:13 run on a 3-lap marathon with 341 meters of climbing, Wassner finished in 9:50:21 with a 45:51 margin of victory on Bevilaqua and 1:04:03 over 3rd place finisher Morel.
Men
Collington led the swim in 50:41 which gave him a 3 seconds lead on Balazs Csoke of Hungary, 16 seconds on Jaroslav Kovacic of Slovenia, 3:15 on Marino Vanhoenacker, and 3:18 on Guy Crawford of New Zealand.
Collington broke fast on the bike leg, and by 90 kilometers, he led Kovacic by 6 minutes and Vanhoenacker by 7:17. After a 2nd-fastest 4:34:30 bike leg, Collington led Kovacic by 1:35 with Vanhoenacker by 8:39.
At 15km into the run, Vanhoenacker trimmed Collington’s lead to 4:39. But 6 kilometers later, Vanhoenacker faded back to 9 minutes down. After a race-best 3:07:27 run, Collington finished in 8:34:38 with a 12:01 margin of victory over Vanhoenacker (3:12:51 marathon) and 35:07 over Simon Cochrane of New Zealand (3:26:28 run split).
Ironman Taiwan
Penghu, Taiwan
October 1, 2017
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Women
1. Laurel Wassner (USA) 9:50:21 S 54:26 B 5:00:40 R 3:49:13
2. Kate Bevilaqua (AUS) 10:36:12 S 57:45 B 5:26:03 R 4:06:36
3. Charlotte Morel (FRA) 10:54:24 S 54:30 B 5:10:02 R 4:43:00
4. Danielle Mack (USA) 11:44:30 S 1:04:41 B 5:29:24 R 5:05:48
Men
1. Kevin Collington (USA) 8:34:38 S 48:30 B 4:34:30 R 3:07:27
2. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 8:46:39 S 51:40 B 4:37:49 R 3:12:51
3. Simon Cochrane (NZL) 9:09:45 S 51:42 B 4:46:47 R 3:26:28
4. Mikolaj Luft (POL) 9:28:48 S 56:02 B 4:34:03 R 3:54:58
5. Guy Crawford (NZL) 9:46:53 S 51:39 B 4:46:48 R 4:03:49
