George Goodwin, Lucy Charles-Barclay Win 70.3 European Championship
Britons George Goodwin and Lucy Charles-Barclay prevailed at the Ironman 70.3 European Championship at Elsinore, Denmark.
Goodwin overcame a 2:10 deficit after the swim with a 3rd-best 2:01:35 bike split and a race-fastest 1:08:31 half marathon to finish in 3:38:59 with a 28 second margin over Rudolph Von Berg of the U.S. and 35 seconds over 3rd place finisher Jan Stratmann of Germany.
Charles-Barclay combined all race-best splits – a 22:43 swim, 2:14:12 bike split and a women’s-best 1:18:05 run to finish in 3:59:57 with a 5:21 lead on Holly Lawrence of Great Britain and 15:54 over third place Camilla Pedersen of Denmark.
Men
Kyle Smith of New Zealand led the men’s swim wave with a 21:55 split, leading a group of 11 athletes within 12 seconds, including defending champ Rudy Von Berg and Florian Angert of Germany, and Denmark’s Magnus Ditlev 10 seconds back of the front pack. Goodwin gave himself a tougher task, trailing by 2:15.
Smith kept charging through the flat bike leg, arriving at T2 with a lead of nearly 2 minutes over a pack of nine which included Von Berg, Michael Raelert of Germany, Jan Stratmann of Germany, Jesper Svensson of Sweden, Angert, Ditlev, Filipe Azevedo of Portugal and Miki Taagholt of Denmark. After a third-best 2:01:35 bike split, Goodwin remained 2 And a half minutes arrears of the leader, but passed all the rest.
While Smith remained ahead through 15 kilometers, Goodwin made up gobs of distance on his way to a race-best 1:08:31 half marathon, passing Smith at the 17-kilometer mark. Of all the rest, Von Berg put up the most resistance, trailing by 30 seconds when Goodwin burst into the lead and 23 seconds at the finish line. Stratmann posted a 4th-best 1:09:45 half marathon to take third place, 35 seconds behind Goodwin.
With the win, Goodwin continues his assault on the cream of middle-distance triathletes, following his third place at the PTO championship in December.
Women
Going into this race, Charles-Barclay faced singular opposition from fellow Brit Holly Lawrence. Proving her reputation as the women’s best swimmer, Charles-Barclay emerged from the water in 22:43 with a 55 seconds lead over Lawrence and 2:17 over Camilla Pedersen of Denmark.
Charles-Barclay and Lawrence maintained their distance over the first 30 kilometers, but Charles-Barclay started to stretch her advantage through to T2, finishing the bike split in 2:14:12 – 2:14 faster than Lawrence – with a 3-minute lead. Charles-Barclay was 9 minutes ahead of next-best pursuers Carolin Lehrieder of Germany and Camilla Pedersen of Denmark.
Charles-Barclay, a three-time Ironman World Champion runner-up, and Lawrence matched pace for the first half of the run, but Charles-Barclay pulled away even further as she finished the run in 1:18:05 – 2:15 faster than Lawrence – and capped off a wire-to-wire victory in 3:59:57, 5:21 ahead of Lawrence.
Ironman 70.3 European Championship
Elsinore, Denmark
June 27, 2021
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Elite Men
1. George Goodwin (GBR) S 24:10 T1 2:56 B 2:01:35 T2 1:48 R 1:08:31 TOT 3:38:58
2. Rodolphe Von Berg (USA) S 22:01 T1 2:43 B 2:03:02 T2 2:03 R 1:09:34 TOT 3:39:21
3. Jan Stratmann (GER) S 21:59 T1 2:56 B 2:02:56 T2 1:59 R 1:09:45 TOT 3:39:33
4. Felipe Azevedo (POR) S 22:04 T1 2:58 B 2:03:01 T2 2:13 R 1:09:32 TOT 3:39:46
5. Kyle Smith (NZL) S 21:55 T1 2:43 B 2:01:14 T2 1:54 R 1:12:18 TOT 3:40:02
6. Miki Taagholt (DEN) S 21:57 T1 2:54 B 2:03:15 T2 2:04 R 1:10:59 TOT 3:41:06
7. Magnus Ditlev (DEN) S 22:18 T1 3:09 B 2:02:27 T2 2:02 R 1:11:51 TOT 3:41:45
8. Jesper Svensson (SWE) S 21:59 T1 2:54 B 2:03:06 T2 1:51 R 1:12:38 TOT 3:42:26
9. Florian Angert (GER) S 22:07 T1 3:06 B 2:02:42 T2 1:59 R 1:13:56 TOT 3:43:48
10. Mattia Ceccarelli (ITA) S 22:05 T1 2:59 B 2:03:00 T2 2:04 R 1:15:47 TOT 3:45:53
Elite Women
1. Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) S 22:43 T1 3:03 B 2:14:12 T2 1:56 R 1:18:05 TOT 3:59:57
2. Holly Lawrence (GBR) S 23:38 T1 2:50 B 2:16:26 T2 2:05 R 1:20:20 TOT 4:05:18
3. Camilla Pedersen (DEN) S 25:00 T1 3:32 B 2:20:37 T2 2:30 B 1:24:15 TOT 4:15:51
4. Maja Stage-Nielsen (DEN) S 26:10 T1 3:46 B 2:22:21 T2 2:25 R 1:21:38 TOT 4:16:18
5. Susie Cheetham (GBR) S 27:03 T1 3:41 B 2:21:48 T2 2:25 R 1:22:29 TOT 4:17:24
6. Carolin Lehrieder (GER) S 26:11 T1 3:24 B 2:19:36 T2 2:21 R 1:26:18 TOT 4:17:48
7. Anna-Lena Best-Pohl (GER) S 25:22 T1 3:19 B 2:23:52 T2 2:17 R 1:23:20 TOT 4:18:08
8. Heini Hartikainen (FIN) S 30:01 T1 4:03 B 2:20:22 T2 2:23 R 1:23:53 TOT 4:20:40
9. Frederikke Idon-Andersen (DEN) S 29:11 T1 3:47 B 2:28:33 T2 2:43 R 1:28:55 TOT 4:33:07
10. Dina Monsted (DEN) S 26:09 T1 3:48 B 2:22:29 T2 2:50 R 1:39:10 TOT 4:34:24
