Frodeno rules, Frederiksen almost wire-to-wire at Kraichgau
Jan Frodeno of Germany dominated his nearest pursuer by double digits and Helle Frederiksen of Denmark won it on the swim and bike at Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau – a course Frodeno calls “the land of 1000 hills.”
Men
Lukasz Wojt of Germany, a former professional swimmer, led the pro men out of the water with a 21:57 split that gave him a 43 seconds lead on Frodeno and Austrian Alexander Gräf, 44 seconds on Alexander Dirksmeier of Germany, followed closely by Chris Mintern of Ireland, Markus Rolli of Germany and Franz Loeschke of Germany
After 28km of the bike, Frodeno took to the front, 2 seconds ahead of Wojt, a minute and a half over Dirksmeier and Rolli, and 4 to 5 minutes on Marc Duelsen and Loeschke. Gathering momentum, Frodeno plunged ahead of the field with a race-best 2:14:57 bike split that gave him a 3:41 lead at T2 on Wojt, 6:54 on Rolli, 8:21 on Dirksmeier and 9:22 on Duelsen.
Disinclined to take it easy, Frodeno kept his foot on the gas and ran the hilly run course in a race-best 1:12:09 half marathon to finish in 3:53:06 with a 12:50 margin of victory over Dirksmeier (1:16:39 run) and 13:18 over 3rd place Wojt.
Women
Helle Frederiksen of Denmark missed a wire-to-wire victory by the one second she trailed swim leader Anna-lena Pohl of Germany’s 25:32 split. Trailing the swim leaders were Chantal Cummings of Great Britain (+1:23), Katrien Verstuyft of Belgium (+1:28), Alexandra Tondeur of Belgium (+3:46), Karen Steurs of Belgium (+3:47) and Paulina Kotfica of Poland (+3:51).
By 28km, Frederiksen carved a solid lead on the pack, and after a women's-best 2:35:38 bike split, she had a 3:39 lead on Verstuyft, 3:59 on Cummings, 6:01 on Tondeur, 6:14 on Kotfica, 8:06 on Pohl and 8:44 on Steurs.
After a women’s second-best 1:26:18 run split, Frederiksen finished in 4:31:26 with a 3:57 margin of victory over Tondeur (1:23:45 run) and 6:37 over 3rd place finisher Verstuyft (1:29:03 run split).
Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau
Kraichgau, Germany
June 2, 2019
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Jan Frodeno (GER) 3:53:06 S 22:40 T1 1:21 B 2:14:57 T2 2:01 R 1:12:09
2. Patrick Dirksmeier (GER) 4:05:56 S 22:41 T1 1:24 B 2:23:14 T2 2:00 R 1:16:39
3. Lukasz Wojt (POL) 4:06:24 S 21:57 T1 1:38 B 2:19:05 T2 2:45 R 1:21:02
4. Dominik Sowieja (GER) 4:09:45 S 26:21 T1 1:27 B 2:24:19 T2 2:09 R 1:15:32c
5. Felix Hentschel (GER) 4:10:46 S 27:50 T1 1:43 B 2:22:35 T2 2:08 R 1:16:32
Women
1. Helle Frederiksen (DNK) 4:31:26 S 25:33 T1 1:40 B 2:35:48 T2 2:08 R 1:26:18
2. Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) 4:35:23 S 29:18 T1 1:40 B 2:38:04 T2 2:38 R 1:23:45
3. Katrien Verstuyft (BEL) 4:38:03 S 27:00 T1 1:39 B 2:38:02 T2 2:22 R 1:29:03
4. Chantal Cummings (GBR) 4:43:09 S 26:55 T1 1:34 B 2:38:30 T2 2:11 R 1:34:00
5. Karen Steurs (BEL) 4:48:32 S 29:19 T1 1:45 B 2:40:41 T2 2:33 R 1:34:17
