Bart Aernouts of Belgium won the men’s title for the third straight time and Nicola Spirig of Switzerland won the women’s title at Ironman 70.3 Antwerp.

Aernout’s 3:44:51 finish topped fellow Belgian Bert Jammaer by 3:48, with Stanislav Krylov of Russia taking the final spot on the podium another 3:05 later. Belgium’s Luc Van Lierde, who held the Ironman Hawaii race record for 15 years, finished 9th at the age of 43.

The race was most notable for the fact that the London Olympic women’s triathlon co-favorite Nicola Spirig of Switzerland chose to ignore the Hamburg ITU sprint favored by many Olympians and go long in her final Olympic warm up race.

Spirig crushed the field with a 4:10:47 time which was 12:50 ahead of runner-up Susie Hignett of Great Britain and 15:02 ahead of 3rd place Heleen Bij de Vaate of France.

Spirig was recently picked by Sports Illustrated magazine to win the Olympic women’s triathlon gold. Spirig has been on a hot streak in 2012, placing 2nd at the Mooloolaba World Cup, 5th at the Sydney World Triathlon Series, 1st at the Eilat ITU European Championship, 1st at the ITU WTS Madrid and 1st at the ITU WTS Kitzbuhel.

Ironman 70.3 Antwerp
Antwerp, Belgium
July 22, 2012
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Bart Aernouts (BEL) 3:44:51
2. Bert Jammaer (BEL) 3:48:39
3. Stanislav Krylov (RUS) 3:51:44
4. Darby Thomas (FIN) 3:52:24
5. Jose Jeuland (FRA) 3:52:35
6. Markus Thomschke (GER) 3:53:03
7. Erik-Simon Strijk (NED) 3:53:14
8. Bruno Clerbout (BEL) 3:55:23
9. Luc Van Lierde (BEL) 3:55:48
10. Thomas Fruhwirth (AUT) 3:56:43

Women

1. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 4:10:47
2. Susie Hignett (GBR) 4:23:37
3. Heleen Bij de Vaate (FRA) 4:25:49
4. Monique Burger (NED) 4:27:43
5. Susan Dietrich (GER) 4:31:31
6. Carolin Lehrieder (GER) 4:32:17
7. Liz Pinches (GBR) 4:33:11
8. Verlee D’Haase (BEL) 4:33:53
9. Christine Heidemann (SUI) 4:36:31
10. Samantha McGlone (CAN) 4:37:45