U.S. triathletes Chris Leiferman and Mary Beth Ellis took top honors at Ironman Mount Tremblant on a rainy day on the bike course in Quebec, Canada.

Men

Leiferman started his day with a 7th-best swim which left him 3:34 behind swim leader Paul Matthews of Australia and 4 seconds ahead of fellow American Jordan Rapp. After a 3rd-best 4:36:09 bike split, Leiferman was 7:18 behind bike leader Romain Guillaume of France (4:30:34 bike split) and 3:27 behind defending champion Jordan Rapp (4:30:35 bike split).

Guillaume was suffering and quickly faded to an eventual DNF on the run. Rapp took over the lead at 9km, but had the men within 3 minutes stalking him at a faster pace. On his way to a race-best 2:45:09 marathon, Leiferman passed Rapp at 21km mark and never looked back on his way to a 8:24:59 finish, which gave the Ironman rookie a 4:58 margin of victory over Rapp (2:54:53 run) and 9:17 over 3rd place finisher Stephen Kilshaw of Canada (2:54:04 run) .

Matthews took 4th place, 5:35 behind Kilshaw and 10:26 ahead of 5th place Paul Ambrose of Australia.

Women

The main drama in the women's race was Dr. Amanda Stevens, coming back from a foot injury suffered at Ironman 70.3 St. George in May, taking an early lead in the swim. Stevens’ 58:38 split, far off her standard when completely healthy, gave her a 2:21 lead on Mary Beth Ellis, 5:06 on Laurel Wassner, and 7:10 to 7:14 over U.S. rivals Amber Ferreira, Jessica Jones, and Amanda Wendorff and Canadian Caroline St. Pierre.

Stevens held on to the lead until the 50km mark when Ellis roared by on her way to a women's-best 4:59:24 split, which gave her a 12:27 lead on Laurel Wassner (5:09:15 bike split), 17:32 on Wendorff, 18:34 on Stevens (5:21:21 bike split), and 19:12 on Ferreira.

With plenty of lead in the bank, Ellis cruised to a women’s 2nd-fastest 3:18:48 marathon which surrendered 6:58 to Wassner’s women’s-best 3:11:51 run. Ellis finished in 9:26:37 and she was left with a 6:08 margin of victory over Wassner and 24:42 over 3rd-place Robyn Hardage of Canada, a 35-39 age grouper.

Fighting against pain, Stevens soldiered through a 4:31:51 marathon for a 7th pro finish in 10:58:14.

KPR points chase for Kona slots

While final results of the chase for the final 7 slots for women and 10 slots for men will depend on several factors to be determined, several Mt. Tremblant finishers boosted their chances.

Men’s winner Chris Leiferman advanced from 111th to a provisional 54th place – advancing from 1,615 to 3,615 points.

Men’s runner-up Jordan Rapp moved up from 74th place to a provisional 39th, advancing from 2,510 to 4,110 points.

Men’s 4th-place finisher Paul Matthews moved from 61st to a provisional 38th, increasing from 3,225 to 4,185 points.

Women’s winner Mary Beth Ellis would have qualified for a Kona slot without points from Mt. Tremblant, as her 1st place at Ironman Maastricht came after the July 24 cutoff and her 2,000 points for that race would have put her at the Kona start line at the KPR August 21 cutoff.

Still, Ellis earned 2,000 points for her Mt. Tremblant win which boosted her KPR standing to 6,900 points and a provisional 13th place.

Runner-up Laurel Wassner increased her points total from 2,405 to 4,005 points and moved from 67th place to 47th place – close but dependent upon what other women did at Copenhagen and Kalmar, who declined their spots, etc.

Ironman Mt. Tremblant
Mt. Tremblant, Canada
August 21, 2016
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Chris Leiferman (USA) 8:24:59
2. Jordan Rapp (USA) 8:29:57
3. Stephen Kilshaw (CAN) 8:34:16
4. Paul Matthews (AUS) 8:39:51
5. Paul Ambrose (AUS) 8:50:17
6. Eric Limkemann (USA) 8:52:38
7. Pierre-Marc Doyon (CAN) 9:01:13 *M25-29
8. Chris McDonald (AUS) 9:02:13
9. Victor Del Corral (ESP) 9:09:06
10. Jerome Bresson (CAN) 9:11:11 *M30-34


Women

1. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) 9:26:37
2. Laurel Wassner (USA) 9:32:45
3. Robyn Hardage (CAN) 9:51:19 *F35-39
4. Jessica Jones (USA) 10:00:43
5. Amber Ferreira (USA) 10:05:15
6. Amanda Wendorff (USA) 10:06:50
7. Caroline St. Pierre (CAN) 10:07:47
8. Jane Fardell (AUS) 10:10:58 * F35-39
9. Sarah Casaubon (CAN) 10:11:24 *F25-29
10. Angela Bancroft (USA) 10:25:10 *F45-49