Andreas Dreitz and Laura Philipp won the elite titles at Ironman 70.3 Marbella.

When Alistair Brownlee lost several minutes due to problems with his helmet and bike at T1, Andreas Dreitz took advantage to blast out to a 10-minute lead over his British rival with the day’s best 2:11:48 bike split. Once on the run, Brownlee made a valiant effort to make up for his 2:23:26 bike split with the day’s best run, but his 1:11:03 half marathon could only take back six minutes from the German überbiker. Dreitz thus finished in 3:56:48 with a 4:12 margin of victory over the two-time Olympic gold medalist and 6:52 over 3rd-place finisher Domenico Passuello of Italy.

Laura Philipp of Germany had no dramas while defending her title, combining a women’s second-best 26:49 swim and by-far women's best 2:36:32 bike and 1:21:01 run splits to finish in 4:28:56. Philipp cruised to a 10:17 margin of victory over Nina Derron of Switzerland and 15:13 over 3rd place finisher Marta Bernardi of Italy.

Men

Employing his Olympic distance speed, Brownlee led the swim in 22:31 which gave him a 34 seconds lead on Johann Ackermann of Germany, 45 seconds on sixth place Dreitz, and 46 seconds on 2002 ITU Olympic distance World Champion Ivan Raña of Spain.

By 18km, Dreitz took a 32 seconds lead on Kevin Rundstadler of France, 54 seconds on Passuello and 1:41 on Ackermann. After 48km, Dreitz was long gone with a 3:50-plus lead on Rundstadler and Passuello and 8:38 on Brownlee.

After a 2:11:48 bike split - 5:24 better than Passuello - Dreitz entered T2 with a 6:31 lead on Passuello, 10:08 on Rundstadler and 10:34 on Brownlee and Kenneth Vandendrissche of Belgium.

Halfway through the run, Dreitz led Passuello by 7:20 and Brownlee chipped his deficit to 7:57 and soon thereafter dispatched Passuello to take over second place.

Women

By the end of the women’s swim, newcomer Malgorzata Otworowska of Poland swam away with a 24:32 split which gave her a 2:17 lead on Philipp and Justine Mathieux of France, 4:11 on Nina Derron of Switzerland and 6:04 on Marta Bernardi of Italy.

Halfway through the 90-kilometer bike leg, Philipp took charge by 2:22 over Otworowska, 4:36 over Derron, 6:54 over Mathiuex, 7:39 over Tine Deckers of Belgium and 7:41 over Bernardi.

After a women’s-best 2:36:32 bike split, Philipp had a 5:33 lead on Derron and 7:09 on Otworowska. After a 1:21:01 run, Philipp hit the line with a 10:17 margin on Derron and 15:13 on 3rd place Bernardi.

Ironman 70.3 Marbella
Marbella, Spain
April 27, 2019
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1

Results

Men

1. Andreas Dreitz (GER) 3:56:48 S 23:16 T1 2:37 B 2:11:48 T2 2:08 R 1:17:01
2. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 4:01:00 S 22:31 T1 2:18 B 2:23:26 T2 1:44 R 1:11:03
3. Domenico Passuello (ITA) 4:03:40 S 25:03 T1 1:50 B 2:17:18 T1 2:01 R 1:17:29
4. Kenneth Vandendrissche (BEL) 4:05:21 S 26:10 T1 2:04 B 2:20:02 T2 1:49 R 1:15:18
5. Aleksey Kalistratov (RUS) 4:05:41 S 23:43 T1 2:11 B 2:24:27 T2 2:04 R 1:13:16

Women

1. Laura Philipp (GER) 4:28:56 S 26:49 T1 2:06 B 2:36:32 T2 2:29 R 1:21:01
2. Nina Derron (SUI) 4:39:13 S 28:06 T1 2:11 B 2:40:26 T2 2:05 R 1:26:26
3. Marta Bernardi (ITA) 4:44:09 S 28:43 T1 2:20 B 2:45:55 T2 2:08 R 1:25:05
4. Malgorzata Otworowska (POL) 4:47:58 S 24:32 T1 2:07 B 2:45:58 T2 2:18 R 1:33:04
5. Tine Deckers (BEL) 4:49:14 S 29:06 T1 2:12 B 2:45:36 T2 2:16 R 1:30:06