Laura Philipp Dominates at Ironman Finland
Coming after a $50,000 third place at the PTO Championship last December, Laura Philipp of Germany picked up her winning ways with a dominating victory at the women’s Ironman Europe / Ironman Finland.
The contest began with a three-woman battle through the swim and bike legs until Philipp ran away with the race. After a third-best 53:47 swim that left her 7 seconds behind swim leader Jocelyn McCauley of the U.S., and 6 seconds behind Imogen Simmonds of Switzerland, Philipp posted a race-best 4:48:12 bike split that gave her a 3 seconds lead on Simmonds and 9 seconds on McCauley. Whereupon Philipp laid down the law with a by-far race-best 2:52:45 marathon that was 16:50 better than the next best run. Philipp thus finished in 8:38:29 with a 20:57 margin on McCauley and 24:23 over third place finisher Simmonds.
In a year where the Ironman European Championship was split between Finland for women and Frankfurt for the men, Philipp took home $12,000 of the total $75,000 purse. The win added to Philipp’s strong career record which includes 14 Ironman 70.3 victories and a 4th place at the 2019 Ironman World Championship in Kona.
Ironman Finland
Kuopio Tahko
August 14, 2021
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / 26.2 mi.
Women
1. Laura Phillip (GER) S 53:47 T1 1:58 B 4:48:12 T2 1:48 R 2:52:45 TOT 8:38:29
2. Jocelyn McCauley (USA) S 53:40 T1 2:07 B 4:48:21 T2 2:19 R 3:13:01 TOT 8:59:26
3. Imogen Simmonds (SUI) S 53:41 T1 2:03 B 4:48:16 T2 2:52 R 3:16:01 TOT 9:02:52
4. Tiina Pohjalainen (FIN) S 1:02:59 T1 2:11 B 4:55:17 T2 1:55 R 3:13:20 TOT 9:15:42
5. Heini Hartikainen (FIN) S 1:02:16 T1 2:15 B 4:50:16 T2 2:16 R 3:20:24
6. Svenja Thoes (GER) S 58:37 T1 2:35 B 5:04:05 T2 2:04 R 3:10:24 TOT 9:17:44
7. Katherina Grohmann (GER) S 1:07:36 T1 2:42 V 4:54:19 T2 1:48 R 3:18:22 TOT 9:24:45
8. Tara Grosvenor (GBR) S 58:35 T1 2:06 B 5:17:23 T2 2:01 R 3:09:35 TOT 9:29:37
9. Verena Walter (GER) S 1:01:02 T1 3:01 B 4:57:18 T2 2:12 R 3:31:38 TOT 9:35:08
10. Alena Sinay (SLO) S 1:00:55 t1 2:29 b 5:03:44 T2 1:52 R 3:27:56 TOT 9:36:55
