Heather Jackson of Bend, Oregon combined a women’s-best swim and bike legs with a second-fastest run to win wire-to-wire in 9:18:49. Jackson posted the second fastest women’s time in the 20 year history of Ironman Lake Placid, 9 minutes and 7 seconds slower than her race record set in 2016.

In a format in which Lake Placid alternates between pro women and pro men every other year, all of the $40,000 pro purse this year was distributed to professional women.

This was Jackson’s third Ironman victory – her second win at Lake Placid and a win at Ironman Coeur d’Alene. It also wraps up the validation of her Ironman World Championship entry – a prime focus after her 5th place at Kona in 2015, 3rd place in 2016 and 4th place last year.

Jackson's 7th performance in 2018 comes after a 4th win at Wildflower, a win at Chattanooga 70.3, a 2nd at Raleigh 70.3, 4th at Oceanside 760.3 and 5th at Surf City Escape.

Jackson, not known for her swift swimming, led the two-loop swim in Mirror Lake with a 1:00:58 split that gave her a 2 seconds lead on Caroline St,-Pierre of Canada, 5 seconds on Jen Annett of Canada, 37 seconds on Jodie Robertson of the U.S., 1:23 on Carly Johan of the U.S., and 1:28 on Sarah Piampiano of the U.S.

Jackson wasted no time in extending her lead by 63 miles to 4:35 on Robertson, 4:41 on Annett, 14:27 on Piampiano, 21:27 on Jennie Hansen of the U.S., 23:51 on St.-Pierre and 26:06 on Lenny Ramsey of Netherlands.

After a 5:04:44 bike split, Jackson led Annett (5:04:59 split) by 2:47, Robertson by 24:29 and Piampiano by 25:26.

With a quick burst of speed leaving T2, Jackson increased her lead to 4:23 over Annett at 5.6 miles into the marathon with the rest of the pro women's field lagging 3 miles arrears.

When Annett suffered abdominal discomfort and slowed to an occasional walk to recover, her deficit increased to 9:19 at 11 miles.

After a women’s second-best 3:08:30 marathon, Jackson finished in 9:18:49 with a 14:59 margin over Annett (3:20:47 run split) and 24:35 over 3rd place finisher Piampiano (women pro’s best 3:07:31 run).

Ironman Lake Placid
Lake Placid, New York
July 22, 2018
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Pro Women

1. Heather Jackson (USA) 9:18:49 S 1:00:58 T1 3:01 B 5:04:44 T2 1:37 R 3:08:30
2. Jen Annett (CAN) 9:33:48 S 1:02:58 T1 3:32 B 5:04:59 T2 1:34 R 3:20:47
3. Sarah Piampiano (USA) 9:43:24 S 1:04:40 T1 3:53 B 5:25:24 T2 1:57 R 3:07:31
4. Jodie Robertson (USA) 9:49:56 S 1:02:20 T1 3:57 B 5:14:58 T2 4:54 R 3:23:50
5. Lenny Ramsey (NED) 9:57:53 S 1:06:27 T1 4:34 B 5:35:25 T2 2:12 R 3:09:17