After race officials canceled the swim because of dangerously low air and water temperatures, current European Duathlon Champion Bart Aernouts of Belgium and Lisa Hütthaler of Austria won the overall titles at Ironman 70.3 St. Polten.
Men
Aernouts came back from a 16-seconds deficit to Andi Böcherer of Germany after the bike to post a dominating 1:09:18 half marathon to finish in 3:22:35 with a 2:10 margin of victory over Böcherer and 4:09 over 3rd-place finisher Eneko Llanos of Spain.
After the elite men ran to their bikes to achieve some minimal separation, Böcherer charged to a race-best 2:10:57 bike leg, followed closely by Aernouts’ 2:11:13 split, which gained the duo a hard-fought minute and a half advantage over Eneko llanos of Spain and Reto Stutz of Switzerland and more on the rest of a top flight European field.
Aernouts, who lost a close battle to Llanos at the recent Ironman 70.3 Mallorca, made sure he would not be caught from behind on this 44 degrees Fahrenheit day as his race-best run split was 2:06 faster than Böcherer and 2:24 faster than the ever-dangerous Llanos, who also won Ironman Melbourne earlier this season.
Women
The women’s race began as a two-woman duel between Hütthaler and Yvonne Van Vlerken of the Netherlands, much like their clash at Ironman 70.3 Mallorca. Hütthaler and Van Vlerken posted race-best 2:26:32 and 2:26:37 bike splits to achieve a 2:20 gap on Anja Beranek of Germany and nearly 3 minutes on Eva Wutti of Austria and Eva Nystrom of Sweden.
After 6 kilometers on the run, Van Vlerken carved out 12 seconds lead on Hütthaler and 2:18 on Nystrom, 3:04 on Anja Beranek of Germany and 3:32 on Wutti. Van Vlerken maintained a 16 seconds lead on Hütthaler after 10k, with hard charging Nystrom just 1:25 back. Beranek was holding 3:13 arrears with Wutti slowly fading, 4:13 behind.
At 15 kilometers, Hütthaler made a decisive move to take a 15 seconds lead over Van Vlerken, while Nystrom’s fleet feet were flying just 1 minute back. Beranek dropped back to 4:27 arrears and Tajsich took over 5th 6:04 back.
Hütthaler’s 3rd-best 1:21:00 run brought her to the finish in 3:49:55, with a 1:35 margin over runner-up Nystrom. Nystrom’s 2nd-fastest 1:19:35 run swept past Van Vlerken just yards from the finish. Van Vlerken finished 3rd, five seconds back of the runner-up.
Sonja Tajsich place 4th, 6:32 back of the winner. Julia Gajer of Germany made up for a 2:34:53 bike split with a race-best 1:19:31 run to take 5th, 33 seconds behind Tajsich.
The win was Hütthaler’s second straight big Ironman 70.3 victory, coming after her win over Van Vlerken at Ironman 70.3 Mallorca.
Ironman 70.3 St. Polten
St. Polten, Austria
B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
May 26, 2013
Results
Men
1. Bart Aernouts (BEL) 3:22:35
2. Andi Böcherer (GER) 3:24:45
3. Eneko Llanos (ESP) 3:26:44
4. Dorian Wagner (GER) 3:31:59
5. Ruedi Wild (SUI) 3:33:23
6. Rinalds Sluckis (LAT) 3:34:48
7. Reto Stutz (SUI) 3:35:30
8. Sebastian Guhr (3:36:27
9. Matthias Knossalla (GER) 3:36:40
10. Bart Colpaert (BEL) 3:38:30
Women
1. Lisa Hütthaler (AUT) 3:49:55
2. Eva Nystrom (SWE) 3:51:30
3. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 3:51:35
4. Sonja Tajsich (GER) 3:56:27
5. Julia Gajer (GER) 3:57:00
6. Lucy Gossage (GBR) 3:57:40
7. Anja Beranek (GER) 3:57:46
8. Holly Lawrence (GBR) 4:01:40
9. Daniela Ryf (SUI) 4:02:50
10. Sophie De Groote (BEL) 4:03:49
