Raelert Rapid in Rapperswil
Michael Raelert led virtually wire-to-wire, dominating in Europe on a weekend when Ironman's star athletes were hard at work in races around the world. Nicola Spirig was victorious in the women's race.
Raelert exited the water in a virtual tie for the lead, and immediately pressed the pace on the bike. South Africa's Raynard Tissink and local boy Ronnie Schildknecht were well back in the swim, but moved up during the bike leg, picking up passengers that aggregated into a six-man pack that entered T2 2:20 behind front-running Raelert.
Considering Raelert's run speed, the top spot in the podium was all but determined. It was just a question of how that pack of six would sort themselves out in the placings.
Bart Aernouts was the best of the bunch, still, he had to fight all the way to fend off a challenge by countryman Bruno Clerbout. The two Belgians were separated at the finish by just over a half-minute, but Raelert's 3:44:13 was 7 minutes clear of his closest challenger.
The Swiss pro men might have fared disappointingly to the tens of thousands of fans who line the streets to spectate this race—favorite son Schildknecht, 2nd place last year, was forced to drop from the race due to a case of mad calf disease—but Swiss sweetheart Nicola Spirig saved the day. She moved to the front of the bike quickly and never looked back, clocking a terrific 4:08:52. She bested Caroline Steffen—last year's winner—who came home 3-and-a-half minutes back, making it a one-two finish for Switzerland.
It was a terrific win for Spirig considering the athletic range she's exhibiting. Just last week she won the ITU Madrid WTC race ahead of a world class Olympic-style field.
Ironman 70.3 Switzerland
Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland
June 3, 2012
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Men
1. Michael Raelert (GER) 3:44:13
2. Bart Aernouts (BEL) 3:51:04
3. Bruno Clerbout (BEL) 3:51:37
4. Herve Faure (FRA) 3:53:21
5. Raynard Tissink (RSA) 3:54:58
6. Boris Stein (GER) 3:55:05
7. Johann Ackermann (GER) 3:56:41
8. Cyril Viennot (FRA) 3:59:03
9 . Manuel Küng (SUI) 3:59:37
10. Michael Wetzel (GER) 4:01:18
Women
1. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 4:08:52
2. Caroline Steffen (SUI) 4:12:17
3. Gina Crawford (NZL) 4:19:53
4. Anja Beranek (GER) 4:20:44
5. Regula Rohrbach (SUI) 4:25:09
6. Simone Brändli (SUI) 4:28:30
7. Erika Csomor (HUN) 4:32:34
8. Eva Wutti (AUT) 4:36:23
9. Céline Schärer (SUI) 4:38:16
10. Susan Dietrich (GER) 4:39:15
