On a misty wet day on a challenging, hilly bike course in southern Estonia, a Dane and a German displayed mastery over the conditions and the distance after comebacks from illness and injury.

Helle Frederiksen posted women's-best swim and bike splits and a women’s third-fastest run to outpace a fellow Dane by 13:16.

Johannes Moldan of Germany underlined his comeback from glandular fever with a sizzling bike split that gave him a 2:14 margin of victory over defending champion Viktor Zyemtsev of Ukraine.

Women

Not only did Helle Frederiksen lead the next best woman out of Lake Puhajarv by 4:12, her 25:59 swim time matched the split of men’s leader Filip Przymusinki of Poland. The swim split gave Frederiksen a 4:12 lead on Annah Watkinson of South Africa, 7:11 on fellow Dane Maja Stage Nielsen, and 13:38 on Kateryna Parubocha of Ukraine.

Not satisfied with a 4-minute cushion on Watkinson, Frederiksen unleashed a 2:24:19 bike split that was 6:16 better than the next-best effort by Nielsen and 11:43 better than Watkinson's 3rd-quickest bike split. With a 13:23 cushion on Watkinson and nearly 16 minutes on Nielsen, Frederiksen cruised home with a women’s 3rd-best 1:30:07 run which brought her to the finish in 4:24:01 with a 13:16 margin of victory over Nielsen and 14:15 over Watkinson.

After 18 months dealing with nagging knee and leg injuries, Frederiksen seems back on track with this win plus a 2nd at Ironman 70.3 Europe at Elsinore and a 3rd at Puerto Rico 70.3.

Men

Przymusinki led the men out of the swim with a 25:59 split that gave him a 2 seconds lead on Esben Hovgaard of Denmark, 3 seconds on 44-year-old defending champion Zyemtsev, 5 seconds on Julian Beuchert of Germany, 1:11 on Moldan, and 4:07 on Sebastien Jouffret of France.

Moldan took the lead on the outbound leg to Kanepi, earning a small lead on Markus Thomschke of Germany, with Zyemtsev 2 minutes back. Moldan was primed to attack on the bike after a 2:05 bike split at Subic Bay 70.3.

Despite some wind and light rain, Moldan did Subic Bay one minute better with a 2:04:13 split that was 7:24 better than Thomschke’s next-best split. At T2, Moldan had a 6:14 lead on Thomschke and 8:19 on Zyemtsev.

Midway through the run, Moldan surrendered one minute 30 seconds to Zyemtsev. Zyemtsev and Thomschke ran together, 6:42 arrears. With 5 kilometers left on the run, Zyemtsev chopped Moldan’s lead to 4 minutes but his surge was too little too late.

Moldan’s 3rd-best 1:23:27 run brought him to the finish in 3:58:27 with a 2:14 margin of victory over the Ukrainian’s race-best 1:17:30 run and 5:37 on Thomschke (1:22:24 run).

Ironman 70.3 Otepää
Otepää, Estonia
August 5, 2017
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Women

1. Helle Frederiksen (DEN) 4:24:01 S 25:59 B 2:24:19 R 1:30:07
2. Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN) 4:37:17 S 33:10 B 2:30:35 R 1:29:55
3. Annah Watkinson (RSA) 4:38:16S 30:11 B 2: 36:02 R 1:28:13
4. Caris Dempster (DEN) 4:49:56 *F25-29 S 26:27 B 2:40:38 R 1:39:15
5. Maria Jänese (EST) 4:58:58 *F30-34 S 36:38 B 2:38:54 R 1:38:42

Men

1. Johannes Moldan (GER) 3:58:27 S 27:10 B 2:04:13 R 1:23:27
2. Viktor Zyemtsev (UKR) 4:00:41 S 26:02 B 2:14:12 R 1:17:30
3. Markus Thomschke (GER) 4:04:04 S 26:04 B 2:11:37 R 1:22:24
4. Esben Hovgaard (DEN) 4:08:52 S 26:01 B 2:15:07 R 1:24:28
5. Ivo Suur (EST) 4:14:09 *M25-29 S 28:10 B 2:18:50 R 1:23:32