Sam Appleton, Lotte Wilms Win Geelong 70.3
Sam Appleton won his third Ironman 70.3 Geelong title by 1:56 over fellow Australian and defending champ Steve McKenna and Lotte Wilms used a race-best swim and bike split to out race New Zealander Amelia Watkinson by 3:35.
Appleton, 32, an Aussie born Boulder, Colorado resident, adds to his stellar record of 15 Ironman 70.3 wins and going along with a 4th place finish at the 2017 Ironman 70.3 Worlds and victory at the Challenge Melbourne Asia-Pacific Championship.
Wilms, 30, a Netherlands citizen who lives and trains in Sydney, Australia, is coming off a 2021 win at the Sunshine Coast 70.3.
Men’s race recap
Josh Amberger led the swim with a 21:32 split that gave him a 5 seconds lead on Appleton and Luke Wilian, 20 seconds on Caleb Noble, 28 seconds on McKenna, 35 seconds on Joe Begbie, 41 seconds on Nicholas Free and just over 1:20 on Jack Sosinski, Fraser Walsh, Lachlan Kerin and Joel Woodridge. Defending champ McKenna looked strong as he reduced his 2021 swim deficit by 1:17 and he could be optimistic relying on his ace in the hole run.
Appleton and Amberger left Willian from the start of the bike leg, and after race-best 2:02:31 and 2:02:47 splits arrived at T2 with a 3:47 lead on Wilian and McKenna, who would need a miraculous run to defend his title. Further back Fraser Walsh trailed by 4:58, then Tim Van Berkel, Lachlan Kerin, Nicholas Free and Joe Begbie, Jack Sosinski and Caleb Noble chased by a little over 5 minutes.
With 3 kilometers to go, Appleton was safely on his way with a 2 minute margin with a second-fastest 1:13:06 split, while McKenna, on his way to a race-best 1:11:18 run split, was closing fast on Amberger in a battle for the runner-up slot. Amberger, who fought hard with a 1:15:21 half marathon, finally surrendered the silver to McKenna.
Women’s race recap
Lotte Wilms, no stranger to the swim front pack in ITU races, led the way with a 22:49 split that gave her a one minute lead on defending champion Ellie Salthouse, 1:12 on Stephanie Demestichas, 2:50 on ITU star Ai Ueda of Japan, and 2:53 on Grace Thek.
After the 90 kilometer bike leg, Wilms and Watkinson closely matched women’s-best 2:17:36 and 2:17:25 bike splits, leaving Watkinson second at T2 with a reachable 2:44 deficit. Feeling weak, after an uncharacteristic off-form ride, Salthouse arrived at T2 almost 10 minutes down. The leading duo left the field well behind with Grace Thek and Stephanie Demestichas 11 and a half minutes arrears as Ai Ueda and Kirralee Seidel trailing by a quarter of an hour.
Refusing to crack, Wilms posted a third-best 1:22:39 half marathon that brought her to the line in 4:07:41 with a 3:36 margin over Watkinson (1:23:46 run split) and 8:03 on third place finisher Grace Thek, who made up a lot of ground with a women’s race-fastest 1:19:32 run.
Ironman 70.3 Geelong
Geelong, Australia
February 20, 2022
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Men
1. Sam Appleton (AUS) S 21:37 T1 2:26 B 2:02:31 T2 1:38 R 1:13:06 TOT 3:41:16
2. Steve McKenna (AUS) S 22:01 T1 2:15 B 2:06:06 T2 1:35 R 1:11:18 TOT 3:43:12
3. Josh Amberger (AUS) S 21:32 T1 2:31 B 2:02:47 T2 1:36 R 1:15:21 TOT 3:43:44
4. Nicholas Free (AUS) S 22:14 T1 2:12 B 2:07:14 T2 1:49 R 1:13:18 TOT 3:46:45
5. Tim Van Berkel (AUS) S 22:54 R1 2:29 B 2:06:11 T2 1:41 R 1:14:16 TOT 3:47:29
6. Jack Sosinski (AUS) S 22:46 T1 2:24 B 2:06:35 T2 1:36 R 1:14:30 TOT 3:47:50
7. Lachlan Kerin (AUS) S22:52 T1 2:53 B 2:05:53 T2 1:36 R 1:16:12 TOT 3:49:24
8. Joe Begbie (AUS) S 22:07 T1 2:26 B 2:07:07 T2 1:48 R 1:16:37 TOT 3:50:03
Women
1. Lotte Wilms (NED) S 22:49 T1 2:38 B 2:17:36 T2 2:01 R 1:22:39 TOT 4:07:42
2. Amelia Watkinson (NZL) S 25:44 T1 2:39 B 2:17:25 T2 2:39 R 2:17:25 TOT 4:11:17
3. Grace Thek (AUS) S 25:43 T1 2:40 B 2:26:14 T2 1:40 R 1:19:32 TOT 4:15:45
4. Stephanie Demestichas (AUS) S 24:11 T1 2:19 B 2:28:00 T2 1:55 R 1:26:11 TOT 4:22:44
5. Ai Ueda (JPN) S 25:40 T1 2:45 B 2:30:56 T2 2:23 R 1:21:31 TOT 4:23:12
6. Kiralee Seidel (AUS) S 26:03 T1 2:43 B 2:29:21 T2 1:46 R 1:25:34 TOT 4:25:25
7. Laura Armstrong (AUS) S 28:48 T1 2:49 B 2:28:56 T2 2:14 R 1:29:43 TOT 4:32:28
