Laundry Tops Men, Knibb Dominant at Oceanside 70.3

In top notch fields that could preview the 70.3 World Championship later this year, Jackson Laundry edged fellow Canadian Lionel Sanders and young U.S. star Taylor Knibb crushed the bike and cruised to a comfortable margin over women’s runner-up Luisa Baptista of Brazil at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside.

Laundry was 12th best in the swim, 24 seconds back, then combined a 4th-fastest 2:07:53 bike split and a third-best 1:10:11 half marathon to finish in 3:45:00 with a 33 seconds margin over the fast-closing Lionel Sanders of Canada, who eeked out an equal time photo finish over Rudy Von Berg of the United States.

Knibb led the swim with a race-best 23:22 split, then blasted away to a 2:20:17 bike split that was 2:59 better than Holly Lawrence of Great Britain. She then sailed home with a women’s 4th-fastest 1:17:48 run split that gave her a 2:13 margin over Baptista and 2:45 over Lawrence.

Men

Defending Oceanside champion Kanute led the ocean swim with a 3 seconds margin over two-time Olympic gold medalist Alistair Brownlee and Steve McKenna, 5 seconds on Sam Appleton, 6 seconds on Von Berg, 24 seconds on 12th-best swimmer Laundry, and 1:57 on 24th-best swimmer Sanders.

Quickly, and to the end of the ride, a five-man pack took turns exchanging the lead over the oft rolling hills of the Camp Pendleton Marine base. At the finish of the ride at the marina, Appleton led the pack followed closely by Brownlee, Kanute, Laundry (race-best 2:07:53 split) and Von Berg – all within 7 seconds. Six miles into the run, Alistair Brownlee led Von Berg by 7 seconds and Laundry by 13, with Kanute a minute arrears, Sam Appleton 2:03 down, and fast-closing Lionel Sanders within 2:10 of the lead.

Through 10 miles, Brownlee clung to an 8 seconds margin on Laundry, 20 seconds on Von Berg, 1:07 on Kanute, with Sanders edging gradually closer with a 1:30 deficit. Coming to the 11-mile mark, Laundry took the lead and Brownlee faded to a 38 seconds deficit while Von Berg charged on Brownlee’s heels, 6 seconds further back. At this point, Sanders was flying at max effort to a 59 seconds deficit. At the finish, the deck was thoroughly shuffled as Laundry concluded a 1:10:11 half marathon to finish in 3:45:00 with a 33 seconds margin on Sanders (race-best 1:08:29 run split) who won silver in a photo finish over third place finisher Von Berg (1:10:55 run split). Brownlee, fading fast, took 4th place, 55 seconds off the winner’s time.

Women

Knibb led the women out of the water after a 23:22 swim, 1 second ahead of Brazilian Pamella Oliveira, 2 seconds ahead of Lauren Brandon of the U.S., 5 seconds ahead of Lawrence, 16 seconds ahead of Baptista, 40 seconds on Ashleigh Gentle of Australia, 1:44 on Oceanside 2021 winner Paula Findlay of Canada, and 1:47 on four-time Ironman World Champion Daniela Ryf of Switzerland.

Knibb then took the race by the throat on her way to a by-far women’s-fastest 2:20:17 bike split – 2:12 better than women's second-best cyclist Paula Findlay – for a 2:59 lead on Lawrence, 3:04 ahead of Baptista, 3:28 on Findlay and 5:41 on the retreating Ryf, 5:48 on Jackie Hering of the U.S., and 7:07 ahead of Gentle.

While Knibb spent a great deal of energy on her superb bike split, she had more than enough to fend off all challengers. Knibb posted a women’s 4th-best but still-admirable 1:17:48 half marathon to finish in 4:06:32 with a 2:13 lead on Baptista (1:17:01 split), 2:45 on third-place Holly Lawrence (1:17:39 run split) and 5:49 on fourth place Ashleigh Gentle, who posted a women’s– best 1:16:36 run.

Ironman 70.3 Oceanside

Oceanside, California
April 2, 2022
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Men's Top 10

1. Jackson Laundry (CAN) S 22:53 T1 2:27 B 2:07:53 T2 1:39 R 1:10:11 TOT 3:45:00
2. Lionel Sanders (CAN) S 24:26 T1 2:38 B 2:08:09 T2 1:52 R 1:08:29 TOT 3:45:33
3. Rodolphe Von Berg (USA) S 22:35 T1 2:33 B 2:08:05 T2 1:27 R 1:10:55 TOT 3:45:33
4. Alistair Brownlee (GRB) S 22:32 T1 2:33 B 2:08:03 T2 1:46 R 1:11:04 TOT 3:45:55
5. Ben Kanute (USA) S 22:28 T1 2:30 B 2:08:11 T2 1:26 R 1:11:58 TOT 3:46:32
6. Jason West (USA) S 22:37 T1 2:32 B 2:12:43 T2 1:34 R 1:08:56 TOT 3:48:20
7. Sam Appleton (AUS) S 22:34 T1 2:33 B 2:07:59 T2 1:44 R 1:14:58 TOT 3:49:45
8. Eric Lagerstrom (USA) S 22:36 T1 2:28 B 2:12:35 T2 1:52 R 1:11:09 TOT 3:50:39
9. Arnaud Guilloux (FRA) S 24:13 T1 2:56 B 2:08:03 T2 1:52 R 1:14:59 TOT 3:52:01
10. Bart Aernouts (BEL) S 25:41 T1 2:51 B 2:08:24 T2 1:51 R 1:14:10 TOT 3:52:56

Women's Top 10

1. Taylor Knibb (USA) S 23:22 T1 3:15 B 2:20:17 T2 1:51 R 1:17:48 TOT 4:06:32
2. Luisa Baptista (BRA) S 23:38 T1 2:42 B 2:23:38 T1 1:47 R1:17:01 TOT 4:08:45
3. Holly Lawrence (GBR) S 23:27 T1 2:36 B 2:23:50 T2 1:46 R 1:17:39 TOT 4:09:17
4. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) S 24:02 T1 2:39 B 2:27:20 T2 1:46 R 1:16:36 TOT 4:12:21
5. Jackie Hering (USA) S 25:48 T1 2:57 B 2:23:58 T2 2:06 R 1:18:59 TOT 4:13:46
6. Paula Findlay (CAN) S 25:07 T1 2:47 B 2:22:29 T2 1:57 R 1:22:51 TOT 4:15:09
7. Chelsea Sodaro (USA) S 25:08 T1 2:52 B 2:26:52 T2 2:01 R 1:19:17 TOT 4:16:07
8. Skye Moench (USA) S 26:02 T1 2:58 B 2:25:06 T2 2:13 R 1:22:00 TOT 4:15:09
9. Ruth Astle (USA) S 27:46 T1 2:58 B 2:24:11 T2 2:07 R 1:21:38 TOT 4:18:38
10. Daniela Ryf (SUI) S 25:10 T1 2:53 B 2:24:33 T2 2:10 R 1:27:31 TOT 4:22:15