Kienle, Dibens in New Orleans
With high winds canceling the swim and turning the race into a duathlon, Sebastian Kienle’s explosive 2:02:19 bike split rocketed him to a dominating victory, while Julie Dibens’ race-best 2:15:16 bike gave her all of her 76-second margin of victory over Samantha Warriner at what became virtually the Ironman 69.1 New Orleans.
Kienle, a German who won the 2009 and took a close 2nd at the 2010 Ironman 70.3 European Championship in Wiesbaden, Germany to the unbeatable-in-2010 Michael Raelert there, took the high-quality and deep men’s field in New Orleans by storm with his 2:02:18 bike split, which was 3:26 faster than the next-best bike time of Terenzo Bozzone, who finished 4th, and 7-plus minutes better than eventual 2nd and 3rd place finishers Paul Amey of Great Britain and Paul Matthews of Australia.
After his race best bike performance, Kienle’s 5th-best 1:14:26 run was enough to hold off two-time ITU duathlon world champion Amey’s fastest 1:12:17 half-marathon and Matthews’ second-best 1:13:21 run by a comfortable margins. Kienle hit the finish of the shortened event in 3:18:08 with Amey exactly 5 minutes behind and Matthews 7:16 in arrears.
Richie Cunningham combined a 2:08:56 bike and a 1:15:12 run for a 4th place finish 31 seconds behind Matthews. Bozzone, who was 2nd in T2, fell to 5th at the line with a 1:19:01, while Dirk Bockel of Luxembourg was 6th after his 1:15:36 run fell 8 seconds short of overtaking the Kiwi.
The competitive aspect of the race was more confused than usual as the bike was moved to the opening leg, cyclists were started at 30 second intervals, and the ultimate finishing order could not be sorted out until well after everyone crossed the line.
"Because I had a relatively high number (22) and can ride a bike decently well, I had the mental advantage to pass someone every 3-4 miles. I am unfortunately used to starting the bike segment further back, thus the situation wasn't new to me. But when you know that you are now virtually ahead of the folks you just caught that gives you a better feeling," said Kienle to slowtwitch. "But I would have wished that there was a swim, for me the conditions in the water were at least for the Pros feasible."
As it turned out, the women’s race for the win was much closer. Julie Dibens probably did not lose as much competitive advantage as she might have as her excellent swim is generally matched by ITU short course veteran champion Samantha Warriner. Dibens’ usually dominating bike was an excellent 2:15:16 on this windy day and was nearly matched by Warriner’s fine 2:16:43 effort. But when Warriner could do no better than Dibens’ 1:23:21 run, the 2-time Abu Dhabi winner from Great Britain hit the finish in 3:40:15 with a 76-seconds margin of victory over the 2011 Ironman New Zealand champion, 2008 ITU World Championship bronze medalist, 2008 ITU World Cup series champion and 7-time ITU World Cup winner.
Yvonne Van Vlerken of the Netherlands took third, 2:59 back of Warriner, in 3:44:30, while Linsey Corbin’s second-best 1:21:37 run brought her home 4th in 3:46:19.
Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans
New Orleans, LA / April 17, 2011
B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi. * No swim due to high winds
Results
Elite Men
1. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 3:18:08
2. Paul Amey (GBR) 3:23:08
3. Paul Matthews (AUS) 3:25:24
4. Richie Cunningham (AUS) 3:25:54
5. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 3:26:16
6. Dirk Bockel (LUX) 3:26:22
7. Axel Zeebroek (BEL) 3:27:15
8. Matthew Russell ( ) 3:27:24
9. Trevor Wurtele (CAN) 3:28:01
10. Kyle Leto (USA) 3:28:11
Elite Women
1. Julie Dibens (GBR) 3:40:15
2. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 3:41:31
3. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 3:44:30
4. Linsey Corbin (USA) 3:46:19
5. Tine Deckers (BEL) 3:46:23
6. Heather Jackson (USA) 3:48:32
7. Uli Bromme (USA) 3:48:56
8. Sonja Tajsich (GER) 3:50:00
9. Sofie Goos (BEL) 3:52:11
10. Amy Kloner (USA) 3:53:09
