Home country favorite Henrik Hyldelund of Denmark and rising Swiss star Daniela Ryf used dominating bike splits to win Ironman Copenhagen.
Men
Henrik Hyldelund started the day in a tight battle with Clemente Alonso-McKernan, but while McKernan managed to beat the Dane out of the water, a shivering McKernan had to let the relatively unknown Dane exit T1 first. Right on their heels were Anton Blokhin of Ukraine and recent Challenge Roth winner Timo Bracht.
Halfway through the bike, Hyldelund was charging toward a record split and held a 4:24 lead on Bracht, 6:51 on Blokhin and 7:27 on Alonso-McKernan. By the finish of his race-fastest 4:16:41 split, Hyldelund held a 10:51 lead on Bracht, 13:57 on Alonso-McKernan and 22:53 on Blokhin.
At 17 kilometers into the run, Hyldelund appeared to be in no danger of losing his grip on the race as he still held a 9:36 lead on Bracht, 11:46 on Alonso-McKernan and 18:21 on Mads Vittrup-Pedersen while Blokhin had fallen out of contention altogether at 24:26 down.
By the finish, Hyldelund’s 5th-best 2:56:58 marathon got him to the finish in 8:03:39 with a 7:14 margin of victory over Alonso-McKernan (2:49:24 marathon) and 7:53 over 3rd place finisher Bracht.
The win adds to the 29-year-old mechanical engineer’s 2014 record which includes a win at Aarhus 70.3, a 5th at Ironman Lanzarote and an 8th at the Abu Dhabi International.
Women
Daniela Ryf’s dominating win in 8:53:33 with a 12:35 margin of victory over Sofie Goos of Belgium and 31:45 over 3rd place finisher Mareen Hufe of Germany raises speculation how she might do at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship and how much of a contender could she be at Kona.
After signing on with famed coach Brett Sutton at the beginning of the year, Ryf is now a perfect 5-for-5. At Ironman 70.3 Switzerland she crushed the field and beat 2012 Olympic champion Nicola Spirig by 21 minutes. On a Saturday this summer she won the European 5i50 Championship in Zurich (beating 2012 Olympic silver medalist Lisa Norden) and then came back the next day to win Ironman Switzerland with a 4:55:00 bike split and a 3:11 marathon. Two weeks, ago, Ryf dominated the excellent field at the Ironman 70.3 European Championship at Wiesbaden, finishing with a 1:21:44 run split and topping runner-up Leanda Cave by 8:38.
On this day, Ryf swam 48:37 which gave her a 5:46 lead on Tamsyn Hayes of New Zealand and 5:53 on Ironman vet Sofie Goos of Belgium and 10:30 on Mareen Hufe of Germany.
And while Goos posted an impressive 4:56:39 bike split, Ryf’s 4:44:09 mark absolutely shut the door and gave her an 18:01 lead on Goos and 25:01 on Hufe (4:58:39 bike split). Whether or not Ryf shut down her mighty engine and cruised in with a 3:16:15 marathon, she finished in 8:53:33 time with a 12:35 margin of victory over Goos (3:10:36 marathon).
So what will all this mean when Ryf gets to Mt. Tremblant and, presumably, Kona? Arguments against her coronation as the next Chrissie Wellington include: Her 3:11 run at Zurich and 3:16 at Copenhagen means a very slim chance for the podium at Kona – unless her 4:44 bike split at table flat Copenhagen translates to Kona; her 1:21:44 run at Wiesbaden means she will have to win the bike by more than 4 minutes at Mt. Tremblant to have a shot at topping Melissa Hauschildt; and her 8:53 time at Copenhagen was wellk behind Eva Wutti's 8:37:36 winning time at Copenhagen last year.
But surely it will be very entertaining to find out.
Ironman Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark
August 24, 2014
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Men
1. Henrik Hyldelund (DEN) 8:03:39
2. Clemente Alonso-McKernan (ESP) 8:10:53
3. Timo Bracht (GER) 8:11:32
4. Mads Vittrup-Pedersen (DEN) 8:16:03
5. Lens Petersen-Bach (DEN) 8:25:37
Women
1. Daniela Ryf (SUI) 8:53:33
2. Sofie Goos (BEL) 9:06:08
3. Mareen Hufe (GER) 9:25:18
4. Tamsyn Hayes (NZL) 9:34:42
5. Maria Lemeseva (RUS) 9:38:42
