Belgium's Marino Vanhoenacker took his 4th Ironman Austria title today in a course record time of 8:01:38. Bella Bayliss recorded her second sub 9 hour Ironman performance as she won the women's title in 8:50:13.
The men
First out of the water for the men was Paul Ambrose, with Brad storm right on his heels. Frederik Van Lierde was next and defending champion Marino Vanhoenacker came into T1 in 7th position, about 10 seconds back.
A speedy transition of Vanhoenacker allowed the Belgian to be on the bike first and he was soon out of sight. Vanhoenacker was pursued by Ambrose, Van Lierde, Stephen Bayliss, Bjorn Andersson and Bernhard Hiebl, but despite their efforts, Vanhoenacker kept gaining on them. Bjorn Andersson eventually rolled away from the others in a lone pursuit of the lanky Belgian. But the very fast 4:20:13 bike split by Vanhoenacker was almost 5 minutes faster than time put up by the Swedish ueberbiker Andersson and more than 8 minutes faster than the rest of the field.
When Vanhoenacker started the run, he was 5:16 up on Andersson and over 12 minutes on bunch that included Bayliss, Storm, Ambrose, Van Lierde, Hiebl and James Cunnama. Vanhoenacker was smooth and fast on the run too and his 2:50:14 run split was only bested by eventual 7th place finisher Mika Luoto from Finland. Vanhoenacker crossed the line first in a course record time of 8:01:38 and has now won this title 4 years in a row. Cunnama had a great race too and ended up with second place and Stephen Bayliss finished third.
“2 Ironmans, 2 wins, 2 race records, imagine how I feel with the 2009 season so far. There are no words for it.” said Vanhoenacker to slowtwitch.
The women
The women's leader Lucie Zelenkova emerged from the water in 4th overall and well clear of any other females. Zelenkova was in fact 3:33 up on Eva Dollinger and 6:32 on Bella Bayliss.
Zelenkova stayed in the lead for most of the bike too, but at 135km was passed by Bella Bayliss and Sonja Tajsich was not that far behind either.
Could anyone stop Bayliss on the run today? Bayliss had a 29 second lead on Zelenkova and a 37 second lead on Tajsich as the were heading out on the run. Soon seconds became minutes and it was clear that Bayliss was going to take the title barring any unforeseen circumstances. Such circumstances did not come up and Bayliss grabbed another Ironman title. Tajsich and Zelenkova finished second and third.
Ironman Austria
July 5, 2009
Top 10 men
1. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 8:01:38
2. James Cunnama (RSA) 8:14:18
3. Stephen Bayliss (GBR) 8:17:06
4. Bernhard Hiebl (AUT) 8:22:08
5. Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) 8:26:58
6. Mika Luoto (FIN) 8:28:53
7. Norbert Langbrandtner (AUT) 8:29:37
8. Dejan Patrčević (CRO) 8:29:45
9. Hannes Hempel (AUT) 8:30:39
10. Daniel Niederreiter (AUT) 8:38:23
Top 5 women
1. Bella Bayliss (GBR) 8:50:13
2. Sonja Tajsich (GER) 8:59:45
3. Lucie Zelenkova (CZE) 9:07:24
4. Eva Dollinger (AUT) 9:23:17
5. Nicole Woysch (GER) 9:29:37
