Nicholas Kastelein’s fleet feet ruled Basque Country Spain by a few seconds over Cameron Wurf’s two-wheel mastery at Ironman Vitoria Gasteiz.
In a male pros-only contest, Nicholas Kastelein’s race-best 47:47 swim, sixth-fastest 4:17:18 bike split and by-far dominant 2:43:28 marathon brought the Australian to the finish in 7:52:50 with a 39 seconds margin over fellow Aussie Cameron Wurf and 1:41 over third-place finisher Dominik Sowieja of Germany.
Kastelein, a long-time training partner of Jan Frodeno, stepped into a solo limelight Sunday in Basque Country with a well-balanced performance capped by a formidable run. Kastelein started with a race-best 47:47 swim that gave him a 2 seconds lead on Peru Alfaro of Spain, 5 seconds on Patrik Nilsson of Sweden, 1:40 on Evert Scheltinga of Netherlands, 1:47 on Tomas Renc, 1:56 on Philipp Koutny of Switzerland and 1:58 on Cameron Wurf of Australia.
Whereupon former pro cyclist and Ironman Kona bike record holder Wurf unleashed a beast of a bike ride. His 4:01:33 split was 10 minutes faster than his nearest rivals and which gave him a 9:32 lead over Tobias Dahl Thomsen of Switzerland, 9:59 over Dominik Sowieja of Germany, 10:03 over Patrik Nilsson of Sweden and 13:21 over 8th-place Kastelein.
Equal in dominance to Wurf’s cycling leg, Kastelein rocketed through the run in 2:43:38 – 14 minutes faster than Wurf’s 2:57:43 run – Kastelein finished in 7:52:50 with a 39 seconds margin over Kastelein and 1:31 over 3rd-place Dominik Sowieja of Germany.
Ironman Vitoria-Gasteiz
Vitoria Gasteiz, Spain
July 10, 2022
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Pro Men
1. Nicholas Kastelein (AUS) S 47:47 T1 2:03 B 4:17:18 T2 2:17 R 2:43:28 TOT 7:52:50
2. Cameron Wurf (AUS) S 49:45 T1 2:32 B 4:01:33 T2 1:58 R 2:57:43 TOT 7:53:29
3. Dominik Sowieja (GER) S 49:51 T1 2:20 B 4:11:38 T2 2:57 R 2:47:36 TOT 7:54:21
4. Tobias Dahl Thomsen (DEN) S 49:36 T1 2:36 B 4:11:10 T2 2:01 R 3:00:02 TOT 8:05:43
5. Evert Scheltinga (NED) S 49:27 T1 2:40 B 4:12:31 T2 2:48 R 2:59:01 TOT 8:06:25
6. Andrej Vistica ( ) S 54:56 T1 2:24 B 4:19:16 T2 2:07 R 2:48:32 TOT 8:07:11
7. Victor Arroyo Bugallo (ESP) S 54:58 T1 2:22 B 4:22:54 T2 2:19 R 2:47:03 TOT 8:09:34
8. Silas Kohn (GER) S 49:46 T1 2:11 B 4:14:46 T2 2:39 R 3:05:47 TOT 8:15:07
9. Leon Chevalier (FRA) S 53:32 T1 2:06 B 4:24:32 T2 1:54 R 2:57:26 TOT 8:19:28
10. Andreas Jung (GER) S 49:32 T1 2:21 B 4:12:01 T2 2:10 R 3:14:38 TOT 8:20:40
