Crowley, Aernouts take IM Hamburg
After blue-green algae in the water prompted organizers to cancel the swim and replace it with a 6 kilometer run, Sarah Crowley of Australia and Bart Aernouts of Belgium cruised to comfortable wins at what became the Hamburg Iron Duathlon.
Crowley overcame a 1-second deficit after the 6 kilometer run with a by-far women’s-best 4:34:45 bike split and a women’s-fastest 3:05:36 marathon to finish in 8:08:21 with a 5:09 margin of victory over Katharina Grohmann of Germany and 13:02 over 3rd-place finisher Maja Stage Nielsen of Denmark.
Aernouts led Michael Raelert of Germany by 1 second after the 6 kilometer opening run leg, trailed James Cunnama of South Africa by 3 seconds after a 4:22:49 bike split and blitzed to victory with a by-far race-best 2:39:51 marathon to finish in 7:05:26 with a 3:41 margin of victory over Joe Skipper of Great Britain and 8:28 over 3rd place finisher Cunnama.
While his second place finish in a tough field was accomplishment enough, Skipper’s runner-up performance was made even more notable by the fact that this came two weeks after his win at Ironman UK.
Women
Sonja Tajsich of Germany led the women’s 6 kilometer run with a 22:47 split that gave her a 1 second lead on Crowley, 9 seconds on Daniela Sämmler, 29 seconds on Katharina Grohmann and 1:12 on Maja Stage Nielsen of Denmark.
Early on the bike leg, Sämmler and Crowley seized the lead with a 24.8 mph average to kilometer 40, which gave them a 1:56 gap on Grohmann and Tajsich. Soon thereafter, Tajsich incurred a penalty for littering, then reportedly got a red card DQ for disputing the call.
Halfway through the 180 kilometer bike leg, Sämmler and Crowley increased their lead to 4:29 on Grohmann 7:49 on Stage Nielsen and 14:56 on Rahel Bellinga of Netherlands. After a women’s-best 4:32:12 bike split, Sämmler led the field into T2 with a 2:20 lead on Crowley, 4 minutes on Grohmann and 13 minutes on Stage Nielsen.
After 14 kilometers of the run, Crowley sliced defending Hamburg champion Sämmler’s lead to 24 seconds, then passed and opened a gap of 40 seconds on Sämmler by kilometer 19. From then on, Sämmler appeared to be out of gas and faded fast. By 32 km, Grohmann passed Sämmler for good. At that point, Crowley held an 8:08 lead on Grohmann.
After a women’s-best 3:05:36 marathon, Crowley finished in 8:08:21 with a 5:09 margin of victory over Grohmann (3:06:17 run) and 13:02 over 3rd place Stage Nielsen (3:05:39 run). Struggling through the final kilometers, Sämmler ran 4:18:13 to finish 5th, 1:10:11 behind Crowley and 14:08 behind 4th place Trine Boye Larsen of Denmark.
Men
Aernouts led the men into T1 with a 19:47 split for the 6 km run, giving him a 1 second lead on a tight pack that included Michael Raelert, Artem Parienko of Russia, Will Clarke of Great Britain, and Markus Liebelt of Germany. Of note were Skipper (+2s) and Cunnama and Tim Don of Great Britain in his first Ironman after his bike crash at Kona last October – 5 seconds arrears in 13th and 14th places.
After race-best 4:00:44 bike split of suspected shorter than standard distance, Cunnama led the field into T2 by 3 seconds on Aernouts, 54 seconds on Don, 1:16 on Skipper and 2:40 on Liebelt. Raelert fell back to 9th with a 12 minute deficit.
After 4 km of the run, Aernouts snatched the lead from Cunnama. By 10km, Aernouts increased his lead to 35 seconds on Cunnama and 2:10 on Skipper and 4:15 on Tim Don, who was showing signs that he still had work to do to recover his 2017 winning form. Halfway through the marathon, Aernouts was timed in 1:18:20 and held a 1:50 lead on Skipper, 2:17 on Cunnama and 6:28 on Don.
After a race-best 2:39:51 run split, Aernouts crossed the line in 7:05:26 with a 3:41 margin of victory over Skipper (2:45:38 run) and 8:28 on 3rd place finisher Cunnama (2:48:44 run).
Ironman Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany
July 29, 2018
R 6km / B 180 km / R 42.1 km
Pro Women
1. Sarah Crowley (AUS) 8:08:21 R 22:46 T1 2:22 B 4:34:45 T2 2:53 R 3:05:36
2. Katharina Grohmann (GER) 8:13:30 R 23:15 T1 2:31 B 4:38:14 T2 3:14 R 3:06:17
3. Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN) 8:21:23 R 23:57 T1 2:35 B 4:46:26 T2 R 3:05:39
4. Trine Boye Larsen (DEN) 9:04:24 R 29:02 T1 2:53 B 5:01:12 T2 3:15 R 3:28:02
5. Daniela Sämmler (GER) 9:18:32 R 2:54 T1 2:27 B 4:32:12 T2 2:46 R 4:18:13
Pro Men
1. Bart Aernouts (BEL) 7:05:26 R 19:46 T1 2:13 B 4:00:50 T2 2:46 R 2:39:51
2, Joe Skipper (GBR) 7:09:07 R 19:48 T1 2:35 B 4:01:39 T2 2:56 R 2:45:38
3. James Cunnama (RSA) 7:13:54 R 19:50 T1 2:11 B 4:00:44 T2 2:25 R 2:48:44
4. Will Clarke (GBR) 7:20:17 R 19:47 T1 2:20 B 4:08:58 T2 3:34 R 2:45:39
5. Franz Loeschke (GER) 7:26:56 R 19:53 T1 2:21 B 4:07:13 T2 2:56 R 2:54:35
9. Tim Don (GBR) 7:40:59 R 19:51 T1 2:18 B 4:01:31 T2 2:50 R 3:14:30
