Raelert, Riveros top Berlin 70.3
Michael Raelert of Germany and Barbara Riveros-Diaz of Chile posted equally dominating wins at Ironman 70.3 Berlin.
Men
Raelert, the 2-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion who has fought back from injuries for the past two years, combined a 2nd-best 23:59 swim, a race-best 2:04:13 bike split and a 4th-best 1:16:51 run to finish in 3:46:56 with a 4:34 margin of victory over runner-up Michael Göhner and 5:18 over 3rd-place Per Bittner.
Raelert earned most of his margin with his swim, which was 3:08 better than Göhner. Raelert added 1:18 to his lead over Göhner, the 2009 Challenge Roth winner, on the bike. With a comfortable margin in hand, Raelert then cruised in on the run, giving back 25 seconds to Göhner but with better transitions maintaining his T2 margin to the finish.
Bittner, who trailed Raelert by 1:38 on the swim, was 3:01 slower on the bike and surrendered 20 more seconds on the run, finished 3rd in 3:52:14. ITU Olympic distance contender Christian Prochnow had an up and down day as he posted the fastest swim (23:56), a bike split that was 10 minutes 30 seconds slower than Raelert, and a race-fastest 1:14:26 run to finish 4th in 3:55:47.
Women
Olympian Riveros-Diaz was Avis on the splits but Hertz at the finish. She prevailed with a 2nd-best 26:48 swim, 2nd-best 2:21:34 bike split and 2nd-fastest 1:25:07 run that added up to a 4:16:10 finish which gave her a 4:55 margin of victory over runner-up Katja Konschak of Germany and 7:38 over 3rd-place finisher Rachel McBride of Canada.
Riveros-Diaz, who had an equally impressive debut in a new format with her runner-up finish at the XTERRA World Championship last October, started her day 2 seconds back of Germany’s Katja Konschak’s race-fastest 26:46 swim and 40 seconds ahead of Rachel McBride of Canada.
McBride made up all but 1 second on the Chilean with a race-fastest 2:20:55 bike split, while Konschak surrendered 9:46 to Riveros-Diaz with a sub-par 2:31:20 split.
Starting the run elbow to elbow with Riveros-Diaz, McBride soon fell off the back, as her 1:33:05 run left her third at the finish. Riveros-Diaz, proceeding calmly with her under-control 1:25:07 run, could afford to give back 5:08 to Konschak’s race-best 1:19:59 run and still finish 4:55 to the good at the tape.
Ironman 70.3 Berlin
Berlin, Germany
June 16, 2013
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Michael Raelert (GER) 3:46:56
2. Michael Göhner (GER) 3:51:30
3. Per Bittner (GER) 3:52:14
4. Christian Prochnow (GER) 3:55:47
5. Dorian Wagner (GER) 3:55:55
6. Christian Ritter (GER) 3:57:46
7. Anton Blokhin (UKR) 4:00:58
8. James Third (GBR) 4:01:27
9. George Bjälkemo (SWE) 4:02:34
10. Antony Costes (FRA) 4:03:51
Women
1. Barbara Riveros-Diaz (CHI) 4:16:10
2. Katja Konschak (GER) 4:21:05
3. Rachel McBride (CAN) 4:23:48
4. Kathrin Mannweiler (GER) 4:39:23
5. Carla Rooijen (NED) 4:43:03
6. Steffi Steinberg (GER) 4:44:05
7. Désirée Germann (SUI) 4:46:09 * W30-34
8. Annett Finger (GER) 4:46:45
9. Maria Lemeseva (RUS) 4:48:41
10. Simona Vykoukalova (CZE) 4:49:03