Stein bikes to IM Kalmar win
Boris Stein captured his third Ironman crown with a 7:49:14 time on a fast track at Ironman Kalmar in Sweden.
Stein overcame a 5:17 deficit after a 24th-best 49:09 swim with a dazzling 4:03:08 bike split which was 8:33 faster than the next best split and gave the German a 5:22 lead at T2. Stein then held on with a 7th-best 2:53:37 marathon which brought him to the line in 7:49:09 with a narrow margin over Denis Chevrot of France, whose race-best 2:44:06 run split fell 1:45 short of the win.
Mathias Petersen of Denmark took 3rd, 3:14 off the winning pace, countryman Morten Brammer Olesen finished 4th, 33 seconds behind Petersen, and Tomás Renc of the Czech Republic rounded out the top 5, 1:03 behind Olesen.
The win added to Stein’s Ironman victory tally which includes wins at Ironman Switzerland in 2014 and Ironman France in 2015.
Race recap
Alexander Berggren of Sweden led a speedy swim with a 43:50 split that gave him 1:35 lead on Daniel Besse of Switzerland, 1:37 over Petersen, 1:39 on Harry Wiltshire of Great Britain, 1:40 over Giulio Molinari of Italy, 1:42 over Igor Amorelli of Brazil, 1:43 over Renc and 1:46 over Chevrot while Stein broke 50 minutes but lagged 5:17 behind the leader.
After 54 kilometers, Molinari led a pack of four including Karl-Johan Danielsson of Sweden, Mathias Petersen of Denmark and Amorelli who trailed within 13 seconds By this point, Stein advanced to within 1:32 to lead a chase pack including Markus Liebelt of Germany, Matt Burton of Australia, Domenico Passuello of Italy and Spaniards Pedro Andujar and Gustavo Rodriguez Iglesias. After 109km,Stein took the lead by 58 seconds over Danielsson, 1:30 over Molinari, 2:32 over Liebelt, 2:45 over Burton, 3:11 over Amorelli and 3:32 over Petersen.
After an impressive 4:03:08 bike split at an average speed of 44.47 kmh, Stein led the field into T2 by 5:22 over Danielsson and 6:32 over Liebelt.
On the heels of his blistering bike, Stein kept on the gas with a 5:55 split for the first 1.5 kilometers. After 8.1 kilometers, Stein held a 5:44 lead on Danielsson, 7:05 on Liebelt, 7:30 on Petersen, 9:51 on Kirill Kotsegerov of Estonia, 9:54 on Chevrot and 9:57 on Renc.
Halfway through the marathon, the chasers started to gradually eat away at Stein’s lead. Petersen trailed by 5:00, Liebelt by 7:39, Chevrot by 7:59, Olesen by 8:05, Renc by 8:35 and Danielsson by 10:02.
At 24km, Petersen closed to within 4:29 and Chevrot passed Liebelt for third place, 7:03 down. With 10 kilometers to go, Petersen closed to within 3:34 of Stein, Chevrot to 4:47, Olesen to 5:31, Renc to 7:09.
After a 7th-fastest 2:53:37 marathon, Stein crossed the line in 7:49:17 with a 1:45 margin of victory over Chevrot, who passed Petersen for second with a race-best 2:44:06 marathon. Petersen ran 2:47:32 to take the final spot on the podium, 1:29 behind Chevrot.
Ironman Kalmar
Kalmar, Sweden
August 17. 2019
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26/2 mi.
Results
Men
1. Boris Stein (GER) 7:49:17 S 49:09 T1 1:33 B 4:03:08 T2 1:52 R 2:53:37
2. Denis Chevrot (FRA) 7:51:02 S 45:38 T1 1:51 B 4:17:35 T2 1:54 R 2:44:06
3. Mathias Petersen (DEN) 7:52:31 S 45:29 T1 1:24 B 4:16:24 T2 1:45 R 2:47:32
4. Morten Brammer Olesen (DEN) 7:53:04 S 49:07 T1 1:52 B 4:14:30 T2 2:03 R 2:45:34
5. Tomás Renc (CZE) 7:54:07 S 45:35 T1 1:56 B 4:17:53 T2 1:54 R 2:46:50
