David Plese of Slovenia and Yvonne Van Vlerken of the Netherlands won Ironman Barcelona in come from behind fashion with strong runs.
Plese overtook Antonin Blokhin at the 32km mark of the run to earn his first Ironman victory. The Slovenian combined a 7th-best 50:39 swim, a 6th-fastest 4:25:28 bike split, and a dominating 2:43:38 marathon to finish in 8:02:20, giving him a 3:30 margin of victory over Anton Blokhin of Ukraine (2:56:18 run) and 4:03 over 3rd-place Per Bittner of Germany (2:56:37 run). Mauro Baertsch of Switzerland closed fast with a 2:49:53 run to finish 4th, 8:05 behind the winner.
Van Vlerken, who qualified for Kona but chose not to participate this year, earned her 7th Ironman victory and finished with her 10th Ironman-distance sub-9 hour performance. Van Vlerken caught long-time race leader Kaisa Lehtonen of Finland at the 10km mark of the run, and ran with her rival until pulling away in the final 10km. Van Vlerken combined a women’s 3rd-best 59:57 swim, women's-best 4:41:28 bike split, and a women’s 2nd-best 3:02:48 run to finish in 8:46:44 with a 1:56 margin over Lehtonen (8:48:40 finish) and 7:19 over 3rd-place finisher Elisabeth Gruber of Austria (8:54:03 finish). Also breaking 9-hours was Eimear Mullan of Ireland, who finished 4th in 8:56:51.
Ironman Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain
October 4, 2015
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Men
1. David Plese (SVN) 8:02:20
2. Anton Blokhin (UKR) 8:05:50
3. Per Bittner (GER) 8:06:23
4. Mauro Baertsch (SUI) 8:10:25
5. Tim Brydenbach (BEL) 8:10:34
6. Marek Jaskolka (POL) 8:14:37
7. Dirk Wijnalda (NED) 8:14:51
8. Sergio Marques (PRT) 8:15:28
9. Michael Ruenz (GER) 8:15:36
10. Xavier Torrades (ESP) 8:20:45
Women
1. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 8:46:44
2. Kaisa Lehtonen (FIN) 8:48:40
3. Elisabeth Gruber (AUT) 8:54:03
4. Eimear Mullan (IRL) 8:56:51
5. Martina Dogana (ITA) 9:05:30
6. Vanessa Raw (GBR) 9:17:14
7. Lucia Erat (SUI) 9:25:25 * F30-34
8. Minna Koistinen (FIN) 9:29:21 * F25-29
9. Ronnie Hallén (NOR) 9:40:31 * F40-44
10. Di Constance Mochar (AUT) 9:40:43 * F35-39
