Ronnie Schildknecht owns Ironman Switzerland as few other triathletes have dominated other races. On Sunday in Zurich, Schildknecht won his 8th edition of this classic Ironman event by a comfortable 7:38 margin over runner-up and fellow Swiss Jan Van Der Berkel. Schildknecht won 7 straight Ironman Switzerland titles from 2007 through 2013, skipped 2014, and took up right where he left off with a patient, perfectly calibrated performance.

Other athletes who have dominated a single race include Mark Allen with 10 straight wins at the Nice International Triathlon and Cameron Brown’s 10 wins in 11 years at Ironman New Zealand. In 2012, Schildknecht surpassed fellow Swiss Olivier Bernhard’s 5 wins at this race.

While Swiss fans reveled in Schildknecht’s mastery, rising U.S. star Beth Gerdes celebrated her first Ironman victory with a come-from-behind pass of longtime race leader and fellow U.S. competitor Mary Beth Ellis 6 kilometers from the finish. After women's-best swim and bike splits, Ellis established a daunting 14:56 lead on Germany’s Mareen Hufe and 17:34 on Gerdes. After maintaining a 12-minute lead halfway through the marathon, Ellis suffered physical woes that left the door open. Gerdes then stormed to a women’s-best 3:01:24 marathon, passing Ellis with 6 kilometers to go to take the win in 9:21:05.

Gerdes has been knocking on the door for a few years as this breakthrough came after a 4th place and run course record at Ironman Western Australia in 2014 and a 5th at the prestigious Ironman Melbourne this year - once again with the fastest run split.

MEN

Manuel Küng of Switzerland took a big lead with a 48:52 swim, 1:54 ahead of Michael Raelert of Germany, 1:55 on Jan Van Berkel of Switzerland, 1:56 on Alberto Casadei of Italy, 1:57 on Kevin Everett of the U.S., 6:20 on David Plese of Slovenia, 6:22 on Ronnie Schildknecht of Switzerland and 6:24 on Alessandro Degasperi of Italy.

By 33km of the bike leg, Raelert led a front pack of five - 2 seconds on Küng, 3 seconds on Van Berkel, 6 seconds on Everett, and 7 seconds on Casadei. Schildknecht rode alone, 5:22 down, with Plese and Degasperi 8th and 9th at +9:27.

At 79km, Küng took over, leading Raelert by 1 second, Van Berkel by 3 seconds, Schildknecht by 5:04, Casadei by 5:49 and Everett by 7:36. At halfway, Raelert, Küng and Van Berkel were in tight formation, with Schildknecht in 4th with a steady 5:04 deficit. Falling behind were Casadei (+7:44), Plese (+14:33), and Degasperi (+14:34). By 120km, Raelert started falling back with cramps while Küng charged ahead, opening a 47 seconds lead on Van Berkel, 1:24 on Raelert, 5:01 on Schildknecht, with Casadei, Plese, Pascal Ramali of Germany, and Degasperi 12 to 16 minutes arrears.

By the finish of the two loop bike leg, Küng’s 3rd-fastest 4:33:19 split brought him into T2 with the lead, 1:21 ahead of Van Berkel (2nd-best 4:33:04 split), 4:38 ahead of Schildknecht (race-best 4:32:11 split), 15:12 on fast-fading Raelert, 16:54 on Ramali, 17:17 on Degasperi, 20:41 on Plese and 21:52 on Schifferle.

By 10.5km of the largely flat run leg around Lake Zurich, the deck was clearly being shuffled. Van Berkel led by 2:08 over Küng, 3:21 on Schildknecht, 13:58 on heavily ramping Raelert and 14:57 on Degasperi. Halfway through the run, Schildknecht was in second, 58 seconds behind with Van Berkel in his sights. Küng was suffering and hanging on in 3rd, 5:56 down and Degasperi was 4th, 11:24 arrears.

At 29km, Schildknecht passed Van Berkel for the lead, Degasperi passed Küng for 3rd and Raelert pulled out of the race with unrelenting cramps.

At the finish, Schildknecht’s 2nd-best 2:50:02 marathon brought him to the finish in 8:21:19 with a 7:38 margin on runner-up Van Berkel (3:00:53 run) and 10:17 on 3rd-place finisher Degasperi, who closed with a race-best 2:47:07 marathon. Mike Schifferle passed 5 men with a 3rd-best 2:56:23 run to take 4th, 25:25 back of the winner.

“I am so stoked and over the moon! This 8th title is the sweetest by far,” said Schildknecht. “I felt totally in the zone all day. This one is very special to me. I had a solid year last year and a good start to the season in 2015, but to come and win here for the 8th time is really special. What was most special was the way I felt all day. I felt so good and strong on the bike. I was holding back and kept patient. I knew I would have good legs on the run. This is what I had in mind all along and it worked perfectly. This was really at my best level.”

WOMEN

Coming off her victory at the ITU long distance World Championship, Mary Beth Ellis led the swim at Lake Zurich with a 55:12 split that gave her a 1:27 lead on Andrea Mason of Great Britain, 5:41 on fellow U.S. competitor Beth Gerdes, and 6:30 on Mareen Hufe of Germany. Overall contenders Dimity-Lee Duke of Australia (+8:44) and Alena Stevens of Slovakia (+9:27) had some work to do.

Looking as strong as the athlete who won 8 Ironman events outside of Kona a few years ago, Ellis rolled to a 10:27 lead over Hufe at the 90km mark, with Gerdes hanging in at 11:31 down, Duke at 18:04 down and Stevens 22:17 arrears. Seemingly content to maintain rather than extend her lead, Ellis led Hufe by 11:04 and Gerdes by 13:34 at the 123km mark. After a dominant 5:02:07 bike split on Zurich’s challenging, hilly, multi-lap bike course – 8:26 better than Hufe and 11:33 better than Gerdes – Ellis took a 14:56 lead on Hufe, 17:34 on Gerdes and 25:42 on Duke to start the marathon.

Ellis stayed in control for the first third of the run, leading Gerdes by 13:26 and Hufe by 16:14, with Duke falling out of the picture 24:31 back. Halfway through the marathon, Ellis continued on 3:11 marathon pace and kept a 12 minute lead on Gerdes and 16 minutes on Hufe.

At this point, Ellis started to encounter physical problems while Gerdes increased her pace.

After 28km, Gerdes sliced Ellis’ lead in half to 6:17. By 30km, Ellis’ fast-eroding lead was down to 4:27 while Hufe stayed out of touch, 12:49 back.

Fighting cramps, Ellis held on until 36km when a healthy and hungry-for-victory Gerdes sailed past. Gerdes polished off the race with a women's-best 3:01:24 marathon that brought her to the win in 9:21:05. Ellis struggled home with a far-from-her-best 3:24:13 marathon to take 2nd, 5:32 arrears. Hufe ran 3:18:06 to take the final spot on the podium, 8:49 behind Ellis.

"For me, this win is the culmination of 7 years of hard work, a hiatus for childbirth, and return to racing as a mother. There is no way I'd be here without the unconditional support of Luke and our families and for that I'm incredibly fortunate and one step ahead of many of my competitors. I have worked harder for this than I have for anything in my life and to be an "Ironman Champion" is surreal," said Gerdes to Slowtwitch.


Ironman Switzerland
Zurich, Switzerland
July 19, 2015
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Ronnie Schildknecht (SUI) 8:21:19
2. Jan Van Berkel (SUI) 8:28:57
3. Alessandro Degasperi (ITA) 8:31:36
4. Mike Schifferle (SUI) 8:46:44
5. Pascal Ramali (GER) 8:50:44
6. David Plese (SVN) 8:56:19
7. Manuel Küng (SUI) 9:00:10
8. Soren Kofoed (DEN) 9:10:14
9. Dirk Wijnalda (NED) 9:13:57
10. Bert Martens (BEL) 9:15:10

Women

1. Beth Gerdes (USA) 9:21:05
2. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) 9:26:37
3. Mareen Hufe (GER) 9:35:26
4. Dimity-Lee Duke (AUS) 9:51:24
5. Lucia Erat (SUI) 10:00:06 * F30-34
6. Lina-Kristin Schink (GER) 10:11:12
7. Alena Stevens (SVK) 10:11:40
8. Petra Krejcova (CZE) 10:12:17 * F35-39
9. Sarah Hesslich (GER) 10:17:15 * F25-29
10. Esther Hellwig (SUI) 10:17:36 * F35-39

Images 1 and 3 courtesy of and © Luke McKenzie, and image 2 © Getty Images for IRONMAN.