Von Berg, Ryf Dominate Switzerland 70.3

Sapperswil-Jona tourist agency

Rodolphe Von Berg of the United States and Daniela Ryf of Switzerland dominated on the bike to prevail at Ironman 70.3 Switzerland.

Von Berg combined a second-fastest 22:32 swim, race-best 2:03:46 bike split and third-fastest 1:13:06 half marathon to finish in 3:42:18 with a 6:12 margin over Ruedi Wild of Switzerland and 6:58 over third-place finisher Felix Hentschel of Germany.

Von Berg’s win was his first of 2021, coming after a 5th at Challenge Miami, 4th at St. George 70.3, and 2nd places at the 70.3 European Championship and Ironman 70.3 Kes Sables.

Ryf led wire-to-wire with a women’s-best 24:54 swim, a by-far women’s quickest 2:16:34 bike split and women’s third-best 1:23:42 run split. Ryf finished in 4:09:35 with a 7:03 margin over fellow Swiss Julie Derron and 11:40 over third-place Anne Reischmann of Germany.

Ryf, the 4-time World 70.3 and World Ironman champion, is undefeated so far this year, coming after wins at Dubai 70.3, Ironman 70.3 St. George and Ironman Tulsa.

Men

In his first outing after the Tokyo Olympics, home country favorite Andrea Salvisberg blitzed the swim in 21:41, which gave him a 51 seconds lead on Von Berg, 53 seconds on Martin Bader, 55 seconds on Gregory Barnaby of Italy, 58 seconds on Wild and Gregory Faldum of Hungary, and 1 minute of Nils Frommhold of Germany.

After his race-best 2:03:46 split for the 84k bike leg, Von Berg led Salvisberg by 1:28, and a quartet including Frommhold, Faldum, Barnaby Wild and Malte Plappert by 6:19 through 6:23 and Frommhold fast fading to a 11:11 deficit.

With Salvisberg dropping out of the results, Von Berg finished with a 1:13:06 run to finish in 3:42:18 with a 6:11 lead on Wild, 6:58 on Hentschel, who closed with a race-best 1:10:30 half marathon.

Women

Ryf led the women’s wave with a 24:54 swim split, which gave her a 3 seconds margin on Katherina Krüger of Germany, 20 seconds on Line Thams of Denmark, 29 seconds on Julie Derron of Switzerland, 55 seconds on Justine Guerard of France. Trailing in 9th and 10th were late race challengers Anne Reischmann of Germany (27:33) and Alexandra Tondeur of Belgium (27:36).

Once the bike leg began, challengers to Ryf might well have abandoned all hope. After the Swiss Maestra on Two Wheels finished her 84-kilometer leg in 2:16:34, she had a 4:30 lead on Thams (2:20:50), 9:06 on Derron, 11:44 on Reischmann, and 15:07 on Tondeur.

Ryf then had plenty of room to cruise to a third-best 1:23:42 run to finish in 4:09:35 with a 7:02 lead on Derron (1:22:29 run split) and 11:40 on third-place Reischmann (1:24:22 run split). Giorgia Priarone of Italy made up time with a women’s-best 1:23:02 run which brought her home in 7th place.

Ironman 70.3 Switzerland
Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland
August 8, 2021
S 1.2 mi. / B 52 mi / R 13.1 mi.

Men

1. Rudy Von Berg (USA) S 22:32 T1 1:26 B 2:03:46 T2 1:30 R 1:13:06 TOT 3:42:18
2. Ruedi Wild (SUI) S 22:39 T1 1:33 B 2:09:54 T2 1:34 R 1:12:52 TO 3:48:30
3. Felix Hentschel (GER) S 25:33 T1 1:53 B 2:09:25 T2 1:57 R 1:10:30 TOT 3:49:16
4. Gregory Barnaby (ITA) S 22:36 T1 1:30 B 2:09:59 T2 1:37 R 1:145:07 TOT3:49:47
5. Malte Plappert (GER) S 22:47 T1 1:39 B 2:09:41 T2 1:45 R 1:16:33 TOT 3:52:23
6. Gabor Faldum (HUN) S 22:39 T1 1:21 B 2:10:03 T2 1:38 R 1:17:22 TOT 3:53:01
7. Fabian Dutli (SUI) S 25:30 T1 1:44 B 2:09:28 T2 1:36 T 1L14:53 TOT 3:53:09
8. Nils Frommhold (GER) S 22:41 T1 1:38 B 2:09:44 T2 1:39 R 1:17:50 TOT 3:53:29
9. Jakub Langhammer (CZE) S 24:36 T1 1:29 B 2:10:48 T2 1:45 R 1:15:03 TOT 3:53:39
10. Renning Elischer (GER) S 24:32 T1 1:23 B 2:11:01 T2 1:23 R 2:11:01 TOT 1:15:56

Women

1. Daniela Ryf (SUI) S 24:54 T1 1:57 B 2:16:34 T2 2:26 R 1:23:42 TOT 4:09:35
2. Julie Derron (SUI) S 25:24 T1 1:38 B 2:25:30 T2 1:38 R 1:22:29 TOT 4:16:38
3. Anne Reischmann (GER) S 27:33 T1 1:35 B 2:26:02 T2 1:45 R 1:24:22 TOT 4:21:16
4. Line Thams (DEN) S 25:15 T1 1:51 B 2:20:50 T2 1:48 R 1:36:05 TOT 4:25:48
5. Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) S 27:36 T1 1:40 B 2:29:18 T2 1:47 R 1:25:41 TOT 4:26:00
6. Katharina Krüger (GER) S 24:58 T1 1:42 B 2:31:54 T2 1:50 R 1:26:22 TOT 4:26:44
7. Giorgia Priarone (ITA) S 27:08 T1 1:48 B 2:35:04 T2 1:39 R 1:23:02 TOT 4:28:39
8. Alexia Bailly (ITA) S 26:20 T1 1:46 B 2:30:29 T2 2:18 R 1:28:38 TOT 4:29:30
9. Justine Guerard (FRA) S 25:49 T1 1:40 B 2:31:07 T2 1:53 R 1:30:28 TOT 4:30:55
10. Melanie Maurer (SUI) S 33:35 T1 2:31 B 2:28:32 T2 2:03 R 1:25: 27 TOT 4:32:06