U.S. stars Chris Leiferman and Skye Moench won Boulder 70.3 on a sunny day on Colorado’s Front Range.
Men
Chris Leiferman built a strong lead with a race-best bike split, then held off Tyler Butterfield’s race-best run by 8 seconds to win the pro men’s title at Ironman 70.3 Boulder.
Leiferman overcame a 2:31 deficit after a 19th–best swim in Boulder Reservoir with a race-best 1:56:01 bike split that gave him a 1:50 lead over Kennett Peterson and a 5:52 lead on eventual top contender Tyler Butterfield at T2. On his way to a 3rd-best 1:17:58 half marathon, Leiferman must have heard virtual footsteps from Tyler Butterfield as the Bermudan chopped 30 seconds per mile from Leiferman’s lead with a race-best 1:11:59 run split. As they ran down the finish chute, Butterfield just ran out of real estate as Leiferman finished in 3:44:32 with an 8 seconds margin of victory and Kennett Peterson took 3rd, 4:32 behind the winner.
Women
Skye Moench followed her breakthrough win at the Ironman European Championship at Frankfurt last month with a convincing triumph at Boulder, keyed by a race-best bike split.
Rachel Olson of the U.S. led the pro women's swim wave with a 27:16 split that gave her an 18 seconds lead over Meredith Kessler, 1:23 over Kinsey Laine, 1:25 over Lesley Smith for a 1-2-3-4 U.S. lead. Romina Palacio of Argentina emerged 5th, 1:26 behind the leader and Moench was 5th, 1:28 off the pace-setter.
From the start of the bike leg, Moench rocketed through and past the field into a 5:00 lead on Kessler, 5:55 on Lesley Smith, 6:52 on Laine, 8:10 on Olson, and 9:04 on Palacio at 31.4 miles into the bike leg.
After a women’s-best 2:11:20 bike leg, Moench arrived at T2 with an 8:12 lead Smith, 8:18 on Kessler, 12:24 on Laine and 14:45 on Rachel Olson.
Halfway through the half marathon, Moench led Smith by 7:01, Kessler by 7:05 and smashed the rest of the contenders into an 18-minutes deficit.
After a second-best 1:26:10 run split, Moench finished in 4:09:42 with a 6:07 margin of victory over Smith (women’s-fastest 1:23:59 run split) and 9:16 over 3rd place Meredith Kessler (1:27:13 run split), setting up a 1-2-3 U.S. podium.
Ironman 70.3 Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
August 3, 2019
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Chris Leiferman (USA) 3:44:32 S 27:17 T1 2:01 B 1:56:01 T2 1:17 R 1:17:58
2. Tyler Butterfield (BER) 3:44:40 S 25:42 T1 1:46 B 2:03:42 T2 1:35 R 1:11:56
3. Kennett Peterson (USA) 3:49:14 S 27:20 T1 2:04 B 1:57:44 T2 1:19 R 1:20:48
4. Andy Potts (USA) 3:50:18 S 24:59 T1 1:54 B 2:01:13 T2 1:27 R 1:20:48
5. Josh Amberger (AUS) 3:51:54 S 24:45 T1 1:57 B 2:02:19 T2 1:19 R 1:21:35
6. Ben Hoffman (USA) 3:53:47 S 25:36 T1 1:53 B 2:04:36 T2 1:18 R 1:20:26
7. Mario de Elias (ARG) 3:55:49 S 28:35 T1 1:57 B 2:06:57 T2 1:24 R 1:16:57
8. Sam Long (USA) 3:56:01 S 28:57 T1 1:40 B 2:00:37 T2 1:06 R 1:23:43
9. Robbie Deckard (USA) 3:56:34 S 27:10 T1 1:51 B 2:03:25 T2 1:19 R 1:22:52
10. Joe Maloy (USA) 3:56:40 S 25:03 T1 1:51 B 2:07:20 T2 1:10 R 1:21:18
Women
1. Skye Moench (USA) 4:09:42 S 28:44 T1 1:52 B 2:11:20 T2 1:38 R 1:26:10
2. Leslie Smith (USA) 4:15:49 S 28:41 T1 2:13 B 2:19:14 T2 1:45 R 1:23:59
3. Meredith Kessler (USA) 4:18:58 S 27:34 T1 2:22 B 2:20:17 T2 1:33 R 1:27:13
4. Luiza Cravo (BRA) 4:31:51 S 30:48 T1 2:08 B 2:25:12 T2 1:34 R 1:32:12
5. Romina Palacio (ARG) 4:32:22 S 28:42 T1 2:04 B 2:27:43 T2 1:37 R 1:32:18
6. Rachel Olson (USA) 4:33:02 S 27:16 T1 2:10 B 2:27:13 T2 1:27 R 1:34:58
7. Uli Bromme (USA) 4:33:48 (lost chip, splits N/A)
8. Danielle Mack (USA) 4:35:18 S 33:41 T1 2:09 B 2:22:11 T2 1:32 R 1:35:47
9. Stephanie Roy (CAN) 4:35:28 S 32:34 T1 2:31 B 2:28:45 T2 1:32 R 1:30:09
10. Kinsey Laine (USA) 4:37:39 S 28:39 T1 2:04 B 2:23:37 T2 1:34 R 1:41:48
11. Nicole Falcaro (USA) 4:38:07 S 33:45 T1 2:27 B 2:29:57 T2 1:22 R 1:30:36
