Radka Kahlefeldt of the Czech Republic and Nils Frommhold of Germany won Ironman 70.3 Astana Sunday in Kazakhstan.
Women
Kahlefeldt began her day with a women’s-best 27:28 swim split which gave her a 2:13 lead, then fell to 4th place after a 2:17:21 bike split, 2:48 behind women’s bike leader Susie Cheetham of Great Britain. For Kahlefeldt, this day was not about the bike as she ran as if on wings, flying past Cheetham after 11 kilometers on her way to a by-far women’s-best 1:19:46 half marathon that was 4:11 faster than her nearest competitor.
Kahlefeldt finished in 4:07:43 with a 1:24 margin of victory over Cheetham (1:23:57 run) and 4:51 over 3rd place Sarah Piampiano of the U.S., who made up ground after a sluggish swim with a women’s-best 2:11:35 bike split and a women’s 4th-fastest 1:24:37 run.
The victory marked another highlight on Kahlefeldt’s career surge after the birth of her daughter Ruby two years ago. In 2018, Kahlefeldt won 70.3s in Taupo, Western Sydney and the Asia Pacific Championship, and Challenge Asia-Pacific, as well as 5th at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship. Prior to Astana, this year Kahlefeldt won 70.3s in Davao and Geelong, took 2nd at Challenge the Championship, and took 3rd place at Challenge Melbourne, the Ironman 70.3 European Championship and the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship.
Men
Frommhold emerged from the swim in third place, 7 seconds behind Mattia Ceccarelli of Italy and 5 seconds behind Filipe Azevedo of Portugal. Zoltan Petsuk of Hungary, Sam Proctor and Tim Don of Great Britain and Daniil Sapunov of Russia trailed by three-quarters of a minute.
Once on two wheels, Ceccarelli and Frommhold hit the afterburners and posted race-best 2:00:33 and 2:00:39 bike splits, with Frommhold leading at T2 by 3 seconds with Azevedo trailing by 3:51. Don, who arrived at T2 in 4th place, withdrew.
Halfway through the 13.1 mile run, Frommhold opened a 2:10 lead on Ceccarelli and 2:48 on hard-charging Azevedo, who made up 2:50 on Ceccarelli. After 16 kilometers of the run, Azevedo passed Ceccarelli for second and closed to within 2:28 of Frommhold.
After a second-fastest 1:17:30 run split, Frommhold finished in 3:46:06 with a 2:08 margin of victory over Azevedo (race-best 1:15:46 run split) and 2:55 over 3rd place finisher Ceccarelli.
The win was Frommhold’s best performance of 2019 after a 2nd place at Ironman South Africa in April and 5th place at Ironman 70.3 Switzerland last month.
Ironman 70.3 Astana
Astana Kazakhstan
July 14, 2019
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Women
1. Radka Kahlefeldt (CZE) 4:07:43 S 27:28 T1 1:36 B 2:17:21 T2 1:34 R 1:19:46
2. Susie Cheetham (GBR) 4:09:07 S 29:41 T1 1:27 B 2:12:06 T2 1:57 R 1:23:57
3. Sarah Piampiano (USA) 4:12:34 S 32:41 T1 2:12 B 2:11:35 T2 1:31 R 1:24:37
4. Lisa Hütthaler (AUT) 4:16:09 S 29:40 T1 1:31 B 2:14:18 T2 1:52 R 1:28:49
5. Gabriella Zelinka (HUN) 4:18:23 S 29:40 T1 1:26 B 2:20:40 T2 2:07 R 1:24:31
Men
1. Nils Frommhold (GER) 3:46:06 S 24:50 T1 1:26 B 2:00:39 T2 1:45 R 1:17:30
2. Filipe Azevedo (POR) 3:48:14 S 24:48 T1 1:25 B 2:04:20 T2 1:57 R 1:15:46
3. Mattia Ceccarelli (ITA) 3:49:01 S 24:43 T1 1:39 B 2:00:33 T2 1:47 R 1:20:21
4. Daniil Sapunov (UKR) 3:54:01 S 25:24 T1 1:24 B 2:07:17 T2 1:57 R 1:18:01
5. Zoltan Petsuk (HUN) 3:56:49 S 25:24 T1 1:11 B 2:10:41 T2 1:34 R 1:18:02
