Vanhoenacker, Wutti rule Austria
Marino Vanhoenacker of Belgium and Eva Wutti of Austria dominated the men’s and women’s fields to win the 17th Ironman Austria in near-record times.
Men
Vanhoenacker seized the lead with a blazing fast course record 4:11:47 bike split and remained on race-record pace until he let off the gas near the end of the marathon. Vanhoenacker cruised home with the 2nd-fastest 2:45:53 run to finish in 7:48:45 with an 18:14 margin of victory over Austrian Michael Weiss. Defending champion Ivan Raña of Spain closed with a race-best 2:44:27 run to take 3rd, 1:26 back of Weiss.
Vanhoenacker’s win comes four weeks after his 7:53:44 winning performance at Ironman Brazil.
Vanhoenacker’s win was his 7th at Ironman Austria and his finish time was the 4th best in Ironman distance history. Only Andreas Raelert’s 7:41:33 mark at 2011 Challenge Roth, Vanhoenacker’s own 7:45:49 at 2011 Ironman Austria and Ivan Raña’s 7:48:43 winning effort at Klagenfurt last year were faster.
Women
Eva Wutti finished in 8:45:37 with a 17:09 margin of victory over fellow Austrian Lisa Hütthaler and 17:33 over Sarah Piampiano of the United States.
Wutti and Hütthaler overcame a 4 minute deficit to U.S. competitor Christina Jackson’s women's-best 48:33 swim by 80km of Klagenfurt’s fast two-loop bike course. By the finish of the bike leg, the two posted nearly identical 4 hours 53 minutes splits and Hütthaler led Wutti by 1 second at T2. After the leaders’ swift two-wheel surge, Sarah Piampiano trailed by 11:28 in 3rd, Elisabeth Gruber of Austria was 16:36 back in 4th place and Jackson was 5th, 17:04 arrears.
Wutti quickly established control of the run and by the time she finished a women's race-record 2:54:42 marathon, she posted the 3rd-fastest women's time at Klagenfurt and beat Hütthaler by two and a half miles. Hütthaler faded to a 3:11:43 run, but it was just enough to hold off Sarah Piampiano’s fast-closing 3:00:12 marathon by 24 seconds to take second place.
Wutti now has four sub-9 hour Ironman-distance finishes: a women’s 7th-best 8:37:36 at 2013 Ironman Copenhagen, a 16th-best 8:45:37 at Ironman Austria this year, a 28th-fastest 8:49:21 at Challenge Barcelona in 2013 and a 33rd-best 8:51:01 at Ironman Barcelona in 2014.
Ironman Austria
Klagenfurt, Austria
June 28, 2015
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Men
1. Marino Vanhoenacker (AUT) 7:48:45
2. Michael Weiss (AUT) 8:06:59
3. Ivan Raña (ESP) 8:08:25
4. David Plese (BRN/SVN) 8:12:31
5. Massimo Cigana (ITA) 8:25:20
6. Miguel Angel Fidalgo (ESP) 8:26:41
7. Matic Modic (SVN) 8:37:12
8. Dejan Patrcevic (HRV) 8:39:38
9. Charles Pennington (GBR) 8:45:43 * M35-39
10. Christian Birngruber (AUT) 8:49:06
Women
1. Eva Wutti (AUT) 8:45:37
2. Lisa Hütthaler (AUT) 9:02:46
3. Sarah Piampiano (USA) 9:03:10
4. Elisabeth Gruber (AUT) 9:10:10
5. Martina Dogana (ITA) 9:18:50
6. Erika Csomor (HUN) 9:24:38
7. Kamila Polak (AUT) 9:28:28
8. Annah Watkinson (RSA) 9:31:33 * F30-34
9. Christina Jackson (USA) 9:35:40
10. Bianca Steurer (AUT) 9:39:55
