Florian Angert used a sizzling fast bike leg to trump the run of Ironman World Champion Patrick Lange and Laura Philipp unleashed an equally remarkable two wheel performance to crush the women's field at Ironman 70.3 Rügen.
Angert combined a race-best 28:03 swim, a devastating 1:59:12 bike split and a 3rd-best 1:15:45 run to finish in 3:47:35 with a 2:30 margin of victory over defending champion Patrick Lange and 4:21 over 3rd place Horst Reichel in a 1-2-3 German sweep.
The win follows Angert’s recent Ironman 70.3 victories at St. Polten and Jonkoping.
Philipp overcame a 1:06 deficit after the swim with a by-far women’s-best 2:12:57 bike split - 8:12 better than the next-best split by Laura Zimmerman - that gave her an 11:03 lead at T2. Philipp added a women's-fastest 1:24:25 half marathon to finish in 4:16:02 with a 15:59 margin of victory over Claire Hann of Great Britain and 17:19 over 3rd place finisher and fellow German Zimmerman.
Philipp’s win gives her a 4-win streak at scheduled 70.3 races this summer following victories at St. Polten 70.3, Kraichgau 70.3 and the bike-canceled Zell Am-See 14.3 duathlon.
Men
Angert began his wire-to-wire victory with a race-best 28:03 swim which gave him a 4 seconds lead on Andrey Bryukhankov of Russia., 8 seconds on Fabian Reuter of Germany, 13 seconds on Mathias Petersen of Denmark, 17 seconds in Sigurdur Ragnarsson of Iceland, 38 seconds on Horst Reichel of Germany, 43 seconds on Lange and 46 seconds on Christian Kramer of Germany.
Halfway through the bike 90 kilometer bike leg, Angert established a 2:26 lead on Reichel, 2:28 on Lange, 2:29 on Fabian Reuter and 3:31 on Kramer in a 1-2-3-4-5 German phalanx.
After his supersonic 1:59:12 bike split, Angert arrived at T2 with a 5:06 lead on Reichel, 5:08 on Lange, 6:20 on Markus Liebelt of Germany and 6:22 on Loeschke.
With a 1:13:38 run split in his winning effort at St. Pölten 70.3, barring a collapse Angert seemed safe to withstand even a superhuman effort by the fleet-footed Lange. Showing no sign of weakness, Angert maintained a 5:08 lead on Lange and Reichel at 7 kilometers of the run.
While Lange made inroads with a race-best 1:13:15 half marathon, Angert surrendered just 2:30 with his 1:15:45 run split and cruised home in 3:47:35 with a 2:30 margin of victory over Lange and 4:21 over Reichel (1:15:10 run).
Women
Claire Hann of Great Britain led the women's wave with a 32:02 swim split that gave her a 1:06 lead on Philipp, 1:10 on Ewa Bugdol of Poland, 1:16 on Mikaela Persson of Sweden and 3:13 on Joanna Soltysiak of Poland.
Half way through the 90km ride, Philipp seized a 5:15 lead on Hann and 6:30 on Persson. After her 2:12:57 bike split, Philipp lad Hann by 11:03, Soltysiak by 11:57 and Zimmerman (women’s second-best 2:21:09 split) by 13:54.
On the wings of her women’s-best 1:24:25 run split, Philipp finished in 4:16:02 with a 15:59 margin of victory over Hann (1:29:12 run) and 17:19 over 3rd-place Zimmerman (1:28:00 run split).
Ironman 70.3 Rügen
Rügen, Germany
September 9, 2018
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Florian Angert (GER) 3:47:35 S 28:03 T1 2:19 B 1:59:12 T2 N/A R 1:15:45
2. Patrick Lange (GER) 3:50:05 S 28:46 T1 2:08 B 2:03:48 T2 2:11 R 1:13:15
3. Horst Reichel (GER) 3:51:56 S 28:41 T1 2:12 B 2:03:47 T2 2:09 R 1:15:10
4. Markus Liebelt (GER) 3:55:17 S 31:14 T1 2:35 B 2:02:05 T2 2:10 R 1:17:15
5. Franz Loeschke (GER) 3:57:28 S 29:31 T1 2:24 B 2:04:00 T2 2:16 R 1:19:18
Women
1. Laura Philipp (GER) 4:16:02 S 33:08 T1 2:36 B 2:12:57 T2 2:58 R 1:24:25
2. Claire Hann (GBR) 4:32:01 S 32:02 T1 3:03 B 2:24:39 T2 3:07 R 1:29:12
3. Laura Zimmerman (GER) 4:33:21 S 38:41 T1 2:45 B 2:21:09 T2 2:48 R 1:28:00
4. Joanna Soltysiak (POL) 4:35:00 S 35:15 T1 2:42 B 2:22:41 T2 2:51 R 1:31:33
5. Ewa Bugdol (POL) 4:45:54 S 33:12 T1 2:53 B 2:33:27 T2 2:40 R 1:33:43
