Bertrand Billard of France did it with a race-best bike and second-fastest run and Camilla Pedersen of Denmark had the same-ranked bike and run legs to win the elite crowns at the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championship in Weihai, China.

Men

Billard started the defense of his 2013 ITU Long Distance crown with a 9th-fastest 51:15 split for the 4 kilometer swim in the Weihai ocean bay but not to worry – he was only 1 minute, 20 seconds down to swim leader Rasmus Petraeus of Denmark and a crowd that included potential rivals such as former ITU Long Distance World Champion Sylvain Sudrie of France, Denis Vasiliev of Russia and Graham O’Grady of New Zealand. Craig Alexander of Australia, the 3-time Ironman World Champion and 2-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion looking to add this ITU long course gold to his glittering résumé, did himself no favors with an uncharacteristically slow 55:09 split. Greg Bennett was still in the game, 2 seconds behind Billard, as they started the bike course.

By the time Billard finished the three 40-kilometer laps of the technical bike leg with hills and corner on seaside roads, the Frenchman seized the lead with a race-best 2:57:46 split which was 1:57 faster than Sudrie’s next best split and 2:02 better than fellow Frenchman Cyril Viennot, who was struggling to make up for a dawdling 55:10 swim. Surprisingly, strong cyclists like O’Grady (3:07:23), Alexander (3:11:59) and Bennett (3:16:01) slipped out of contention.

After a sub-standard start, Alexander showed why he is a champion with a race-best 1:09:41 run split. That was 5:03 better than the next-fastest 20k split by Petraeus and 6:40 better than Billard but could only advance Crowie out of the hole he dug for himself as far as 5th place. Billard’s 2nd-best 1:16:21 run split was enough to get him to the finish in 5:09:09 with a 2:41 margin of victory over Sudrie (1:18:22 run) and 6:25 over 3rd-place finisher Viennot (1:16:54 run) for an all French men’s podium. Lacking Alexander’s inspiration on the run, Bennett finished 15th.

Billard thus defended the title he won at Belfort, France last year with a 2-minute margin of victory over Terenzo Bozzone of New Zealand.

Women

Camilla Pedersen’s secure margin of victory over runner-up Kaisa Lehtonen of Finland wasn't the drama of the day. Rather, the shining aura surrounding the Danish star was her continuing recovery from a three week coma suffered in a bike crash last September.

Pedersen, who made a career breakthrough with an 8:56:01 victory at the 2013 edition of Ironman Europe at Frankfurt last summer, had a long rehabilitation from her brain injuries before her return to competition this spring with a win at Ironman 70.3 Fuerteventura. Since then Pedersen won 70.3s at Barcelona, Italy and Aarhus before a DNF at Frankfurt due to hip issues halted her victory parade. Just two weeks ago, Pedersen got back on track with a double win weekend in the half Ironman and the Olympic distance at Gerardmer and obviously she was more than ready for China.

Pedersen emerged from the swim with a 4th-best women’s split of 57:35 which was 2:35 behind swim leader Laura Bennett of the U.S. and 2:33 behind ITU star Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand and 1:41 ahead of Finnish newcomer Kaisa Lehtonen.

Pedersen erased any uncertainty about who was in control of this race with a sizzling 3:21:27 bike split that added 3:13 to her margin on Lehtonen and was 7:49 faster than Hewitt and 16:17 better than Bennett and 8:43 better than Polish contender Ewa Bugdol.

While Lehtonen’s race-fastest 1:19:51 run split managed to carve away 44 seconds from Pedersen’s lead, it still left the Finn 4:16 behind Pedersen’s 5:43:21 elapsed time at the finish. Hewitt, suffering from a crash on the bike, held on to the final spot on the podium with a 1:24:59 run split, 10:58 behind the winner.

Pedersen was a bit overwhelmed at the enormity of her comeback and her first world title. “It is one year since my bad accident,” said Pedersen. “I have come back and I am speechless.”

ITU Long Distance World Championship
Weihai, China
September 21, 2014
S 4k / B 120k / R 20k

Results

Men

1. Bertrand Billard (FRA) 5:09:09 - $10,625
2. Sylvan Sudrie (FRA) 5:11:50 - $8,500
3. Cyril Viennot (FRA) 5:15:34 - $6,375
4. Graham O’Grady (NZL) 5:17:53- $4,250
5. Craig Alexander (AUS) 5:20:45 - $2,975
6. Gustavo Rodriguez Iglesias (ESP) 5:21:53 - $2,550
7. Rasmus Petraeus (DEN) 5:22:09 - $2,125
8. Samuel Betten (AUS) 5:23:26 - $1,275
9. Antony Costes (FRA) 5:24:24 - $955
10. Nikolay Yaroshenko (RUS) 5:25:41 - $745
15. Greg Bennett (USA) 5:42:06 - $210

Women

1. Camilla Pedersen (DEN) 5:43:31- $10,625
2. Kaisa Lehtonen (FIN) 5:47:47 - $8,500
3. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 5:54:29 - $6,375
4. Ewa Bugdol (POL) 5:58:49 - $4,250
5. Eva Potuckova (CZE) 6:00:44 - $2,975
6. Laura Bennett (USA) 6:02:55 - $2,550
7. Vanessa Gianinni (BRA) 6:05:40 - $2,125
8. Natsumi Higashi (JPN) 6:34:14 - $1,275
9. Gurutze Larralde (ESP) 6:34:25 - $955
10. Yasuko Miyazaki (JPN) 6:41:04 - $745