Tyler Butterfield overcame a 6:39 deficit after the bike leg with a race-best 1:14:45 run and Ellie Salthouse outran Svenja Thoes to win pro honors at Ironman 70.3 Cozumel.
Men
Butterfield started with a 7th-best 25:06 swim that left him a 22 seconds behind swim leader Brent McMahon of Canada and 14 seconds behind Ironman 70.3 Worlds bronze medalist Rodolphe Von Berg of the U.S. On the wings of a race-best 2:01:06 bike split, Von Berg took a 4:52 lead on Michael Weiss of Austria (second-best 2:01:58 bike split), 5:00 lead on McMahon, 6:28 on Raul Tejada of Guatemala, and 6:39 on Butterfield, who managed a 2:07:19 bike split to stay in sight of the podium.
After 5 kilometers of the run, Butterfield advanced to 4th, 3:02 behind Von Berg, 1:14 behind McMahon and 1:02 behind Weiss.
On his way to a race-best 1:14:45 half marathon, Butterfield swept past Tejada and Weiss at the halfway point of the run and closed to within 1:56 of Von Berg.
At that point, Von Berg began a fade to a 1:23:34 run split which left the door open to Butterfield, who closed with a 1:14:45 half marathon, finishing in 3:50:22 with a 1:59 margin of victory over Von Berg and 3:16 over 3rd place Michael Weiss (1:19:56 run split).
Butterfield remains on a running hot streak which began with a sizzling hot 1:11:56 half marathon to advance to second place at Ironman 70.3 Boulder – a split which was 6:02 better than the next best effort by Boulder 70.3 overall winner Chris Leiferman.
Women
Salthouse jetted away to a 27:16 swim split that gave the Australian a 1:13 lead on Laurel Wassner, 2:44 on Sarah Alexander and 2:45 on Svenja Thoes of Germany. While Salthouse sailed along to a 3rd-best 2:22:58 bike split, Thoes erased her swim deficit with a women’s second-fastest 2:20:11 bike split, trading places with Salthouse to hit the bike-to-run transition one second ahead of the Aussie and 2 seconds ahead of Sara Van De Vel of Belgium.
Halfway through the run, Salthouse opened a 52 seconds lead on Thoes and left Van De Vel 3:47 off the back. After a women’s race-best 1:26:02 run split, Salthouse finished in 4:18:53 with a 2:01 margin of victory over Thoes (1:27:57 run split) and 9:24 over 3rd place Van De Vel (1:35:521 run split).
Salthouse’s victory at Cozumel is the latest mark in a year of consistent excellence which includes 2018 wins at Cozumel 70.3 and Los Cabos 70.3 and, in 2019, a win at Challenge Cancun, 2nd at Geelong 70.3 and 3rd at Oceanside 70.3.
Ironman 70.3 Cozumel
Cozumel, Mexico
September 29, 2019
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Tyler Butterfield (BER) 3:50:22 S 25:05 T1 1:45 B 2:07:19 T2 1:29 R 1:14:45
2. Rodolphe Von Berg (USA) 3:52:21 S 24:51 T1 1:35 B 2:01:06 T2 1:19 R 1:23:34
3. Michael Weiss (AUT) 3:53:38 S 28:14 T1 2:10 B 2:01:58 T2 1:21 R 1:19:56
4. Raul Tejada (GUAT) 3:57:56 S 27:22 T1 1:52 B 2:04:44 T2 1:29 R 1:22:30
5. Victor Arroyo Bugallo (ESP) 4:00:06 S 29:12 T1 1:47 B 2:07:09 T2 1:20 R 1:20:40
Women
1. Ellie Salthouse (AUS) 4:18:53 S 26:15 T1 1:57 B 2:22:58 T2 1:43 R 1:26:02
2. Svenja Thoes (GER) 4:20:54 S 29:00 T1 1:59 B 2:20:11 T2 1:50 R 1:27:57
3. Sara Van De Vel (BEL) 4:28:17 S 29:07 T1 2:01 B 2:20:05 T2 1:16 R 1:35:51
4. Leann Fanoy (UAE) 4:34:26 S 30:01 T1 2:14 B 2:29:03 T2 2:12 R 1:30:58
5. Laurel Wassner (USA) 4:36:56 S 27:27 T1 1:57 B 2:30:13 T2 2:01 R 1:35:20
