Holten ITU Triathlon World Cup
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Photo: triathlon.org | János Schmidt
With the Hamburg round of the Dextro World Championship only a week away, the majority of the stars of ITU triathlon decided to sit this one out but that didn’t stop the up and coming names putting on a fantastic show as Erin Densham and Ivan Tutukin took victory in the Netherlands.
Densham, the 2006 U23 World Champion, who spent most of the 2009 season on the sidelines after undergoing heart surgery returned to the top level of racing with a comfortable victory that puts her right back up there with the two Emma’s (Snowsill and Moffatt) as favourites for an all Australian sweep of the medals in London come 2012.
Once again it was Hayley Peirsol that led the women’s field from the water. The former swimmer, who has a sub-16 minute 1500m to her name completely obliterated the opposition taking a 45 second lead out onto the bike. Despite her best efforts the main field was not letting Piersol have it her own way.
Shortly after Piersol was caught a group of 18 athletes broke clear. The group contained the two local favourites, Neiske Becks and Lisa Mensink, who raised the crowd volume another notch by leading the select group into T2 with what was now a minutes lead.
It didn’t take Densham long to assert her authority though and her surge was too much for the rest as she cruised home almost a minute ahead of a jubilant Anna Maria Mazzetti of Italy.
With the heat taking it’s toll on the men’s field, there were a number of attacks on the bike course before the Australian pair of Brendan Sexton and Joshua Amberger finally got away to enter T2 with a small lead.
Behind the duo of Tutukin and Yulian Malyshev ran through the field to join Joao Pereira and Brice Daubord approaching the line and the inevitable sprint finish which Tutukin won with a surprising turn of speed, leaving the others to fight over the minor positions.
Women
Photo: triathlon.org | János Schmidt
- Erin Densham (AUS) 2:01:27
- Anna Maria Mazzetti (ITA) 2:02:04
- Radka Vodickova (CZE) 2:03:03
Men
- Ivan Tutukin (RUS) 1:54:21
- Yulian Malyshev (RUS) 1:54:23
- Joao Pereira (POR) 1:54:24
Frankfurter Sparkasse Ironman European Championships
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Germany victorious
While younger brother Michael is making all the headlines with his results over the 70.3 distance, Andreas Raelert showed that he too can lead from the front with a devastating display of power biking to crush the field and take the Ironman European Championship.
Raelert made the most of a non-wetsuit swim to exit T1 in the lead and then set about destroying the field on a bike course that measured 185km’s, instead of the conventional 180km’s, due to a road works detour in the town of Bad Vilbel. With recent discussions around how fast one could really expect to go in an Ironman indicating that 4:15 was about as good as it would get, Raelert’s 4:20 showed that on the right course and under the right conditions we may one day see someone come in around the 4 hour mark. A straight line adjustment shows that he would have done a 4:13 for 180km’s and this is not even the fastest bike course out there.
Behind defending champion, Timo Bracht, was not about to give up his crown that easily but with a 10 minute deficit heading out onto the run, he would have his work cut out to catch Raelert. Despite posting the fastest run split of the day, a 2:47, it was not enough to catch Raelert who was merely controlling the gap and probably could have gone faster. Third place turned into an Antipodean battle between Chris McCormack and Cameron Brown, with McCormack producing a strong run to take the final podium spot.
Sandra Wallenhorst might have found herself 10 minutes behind early leader Katja Konschak after the swim but she didn’t let that deter her as she put together a solid bike and excellent run to take a well deserved, come from behind, victory.
For most the day, it was Caroline Steffen that looked the likely winner as behind her, Wallenhorst and Yvonne Van Vlerken raced side by side without making any significant inroads into Steffen’s lead. It was only in the later stages of the run that Wallenhorst found the extra gear to drop Van Vlerken and catch Steffen, thereby ensuring a clean sweep of both men’s and women’s titles by the home nation, Germany.
Women
- Sandra Wallenhorst (GER) 9:04:27
- Caroline Steffen (SWI) 9:06:42
- Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 9:10:21
Men
- Andreas Raelert (GER) 8:05:15
- Timo Bracht (GER) 8:10:22
- Chris Mccormack (AUS) 8:14:43
Ironman Austria 2010
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Vanhoenacker goes sub-8 in Klagenfurt
Marino Vanhoenacker cemented his place amongst the Ironman legends by posting his fifth straight Klagenfurt victory in 7:52:05 which is surprisingly still 9 seconds slower than the course record held by another great, Peter Reid.
Vanhoenacker exited the water in fourth place before taking the lead on the bike leg, eventually posting an incredible 4:18 before closing the race out with a 2:42 marathon. So dominant was his performance that the second placed athlete, Dennis Devriendt, finished more than 20 minutes behind him with home favourite and uber-biker, Michael Weiss, taking third.
There was however some consolation for the Austrians as Eva Dollinger took the women’s race by a comfortable margin as her main rivals, Rebecca Preston and Bella Bayliss, withdrew during the cycle and run legs respectively. Karina Ottosen of Denmark to made a late surge that never really threatened Dollinger but was enough to give her second while age grouper, Beate Goertz filled the final spot on the podium.
Women
- Eva Dollinger (AUT) 9:18:50
- Karina Ottosen (DEN) 9:34:50
- Beate Goertz (GER) 9:38:56 (Age-Group 40-44)
Men
- Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 7:52:05
- Dennis Devriendt (BEL) 8:12:51
- Michael Weiss (AUT) 8:14:50
