Terenzo Bozzone and Eimear Mullan win Ironman 70.3 Budapest

Eimear Mullan of Ireland and Terenzo Bozzone of New Zealand won decisive victories at Ironman 70.3 Budapest on Saturday.

Mullan overcame a 2:28 deficit to top swimmer Vanessa Raw with a women's-best 2:23:21 bike split and by-far-fastest 1:18:54 run to finish in 4:15:46. This gave her a 3:40 margin over Vanessa Raw and 9:03 on 3rd-place finisher Judith Vaquera of Spain.

Bozzone won it on the bike with a by-far-best 2:04:20 split that was 6 minutes better than his closest pursuers. He bookended that stellar effort with a 4th-best 24:03 swim and a 5th-fastest 1:14:57 run that brought him to the line in 3:46:56 with a 5:20 margin of victory over runner-up Alberto Casadei of Italy. Bozzone finished 6:48 better than 3rd place finisher Matt Trautman of South Africa, who closed with a sizzling, race-best 1:09:50 half marathon that vaulted him from an 11-minutes deficit, outside the top 10 at T2, to the final spot on the podium.


Ironman 70.3 Budapest
Budapest, Hungary
August 22, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Women

1. Eimear Mullan (IRL) 4:15:46
2. Vanessa Raw (GBR) 4:19:26
3. Judith Vaquera (ESP) 4:24:49
4. Lisi Gruber (AUT) 4:26:15
5. Alena Stevens (SVK) 4:27:05

Men

1. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 3:46:56
2. Albert Casadei (ITA) 3:52:16
3. Matt Trautman (RSA) 3:53:44
4. Dávid Hankó (HUN) 3:55:23
5. Maxim Kriat (UKR) 3:56:40

Shiao-Yu Li of Taiwan three-peats and Swen Sundberg wins his first Ironman Japan

Shiao-Yu Li of Taiwan overcame a 16:25 deficit after the swim and a 19:34 debit after the bike leg with a killer 3:08:53 marathon that was 30 minutes faster than her closest rivals. After a punishing, hilly bike leg and sweltering hot run, Li’s 10:22:59 finish gave her an 11 minutes margin over Hawaii’s Bree Wee and a 22:07 advantage over 3rd-place finisher Emi Sakai of Japan. Notably, Li’s run split was faster than all but one male pro – Patrick Evoe’s 3:08:29. The victory was Li’s third in a row at Hokkaido and its challenging bike course, which features 3,300 feet of climbing.

Wee was thrashed but exultant after her runner-up finish: “Wow that was challenging. Just crazy. But I want to come back and race next year!”

Swen Sundberg of Germany surrendered 2:58 to New Zealander Simon Cochrane’s race-best 51:55 swim split, then took over the lead approximately halfway through the bike leg on his way to a race-best 5:09:58 split. This was 4 minutes faster than the next-best effort of Yu Shinozaki of Japan. After Sundberg and Shinozaki arrived at the 145km mark together, Sundberg drew away to a 6:22 lead on Shinozaki, 8:54 lead on Patrick Evoe, and 11:39 advantage on Simon Cochrane at T2.

Evoe’s race-best 3:08:29 run brought him past Shinozaki at 15km and cut 1:37 from Sundberg’s lead. But by the end Sundberg’s 9:22:56 finish gave him a 5:18 margin on Evoe and 9 minutes on 3rd-place finisher Cochrane.

Cochrane, who also ran by Shinozaki on his way to 3rd place with a 3:09:08 marathon split, enjoyed Hokkaido’s rugged charm: “I have raced all the tough cycle courses including Ironman Lanzarote, and this is definitely the most challenging I have done. It was beautiful out there.”

Ironman Japan
Hokkaido, Japan
August 23, 2015
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Women

1. Shiao-Yu Li (TWN) 10:22:59
2. Bree Wee (USA) 10:33:59
3. Emi Sakai (JPN) 10:45:06
4. Airi Sawada (JPN) 10:56:04
5. Michelle Duffield (AUS) 11:03:27

Men

1. Swen Sundberg (GER) 9:22:56
2. Patrick Evoe (USA) 9:28:13
3. Simon Cochrane (NZL) 9:31:55
4. Yu Shinozaki (JPN) 9:49:56
5. Jacob Wissum (DEN) 9:53:42 *M35-39

Simone Brändli and Giulio Molinari win Challenge Walchee-Kaiserwinkl

Simone Brändli of Switzerland broke away from a 4-woman duel with Lucy Gossage, Yvonne Van Vlerken, and Daniela Sämmler through the swim and bike with a race-best 1:20:30 run. Her run provided virtually all of her 7:23 winning margin over Gossage and 10:59 advantage over 3rd-place finisher and four-time Challenge Walchsee winner Van Vlerken. Sämmler took 4th, 15:28 behind the winner.

Molinari’s rocket-rapid 2:03:52 bike split - 7 minutes better than his next-fastest rivals - blew away the field and provided enough cushion that his 6th-best 1:19:51 run left him with a 4:37 winning margin on Andreas Giglmayr of Austria, who posted the day’s fastest 1:15:39 run split, and 5:37 on 3rd-place finisher Per Bittner of Germany.

Tyrol Challenge Walchee-Kaiserwinkl
Walchsee, Austria
August 23, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Women

1. Simone Brändli (SUI) 4:17:56
2. Lucy Gossage (GBR) 4:25:19
3. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 4:28:55
4. Daniela Sämmler (GER) 4:33:24
5. Marina Damlaimcourt (ESP) 4:35:29

Men

1. Giulio Molinari (ITA) 3:49:40
2. Andreas Giglmayr (AUT) 3:54:17
3. Per Bittner (GER) 3:55:17
4. Nick Kastelein (AUS) 3:56:14
5. Paul Schuster (GER) 3:57:01

Michelle Vesterby of Denmark and Guilherme Manocchio of Brazil win Copenhagen

Michelle Vesterby of Denmark and Guilherme Manocchio of Brazil won top honors on a rare, perfectly sunny late summer day at Ironman Copenhagen.

Vesterby broke the 9-hour mark by 11 seconds with women's-best swim and bike splits that gave her a 3:18 margin of victory over Sofie Goos of Belgium and 8:54 over 3rd-place finisher Sonja Tajsich of Germany.