Laura Philipp of Germany took down defending champion Daniela Ryf of Switzerland while Marten Van Riel of Belgium outran Daniel Baekkegard of Denmark at Ironman 70.3 Dubai.

Women

Lotte Lucas of the United Arab Emirates led the women’s swim with a 26:26 split which gave her a one second lead on Philipp and two seconds on Ryf. Philipp then finished the bike leg with a two seconds lead on the Swiss legend. Ryf and Philipp left the rest of the field in their proverbial dust, recording 2:04 bike splits after 90km of riding, they had built a huge lead of 8:08 on Lucas, ands 8:57 on Daniela Bleymehl and 9:03 on Carolin Lehreider.

Despite her career domination of the jewels of the Ironman and Ironman 70.3 World Championships, Ryf had a tough challenge against the run prowess of Philipp. Last year the German dominated the run legs of her three wins. Most notably, Philipp outran all challengers at Ironman 70.3 European Championship in Finland. At the 4-kilometer mark of the run, Philipp built a 90 seconds lead on Ryf and increased that to the finish. Philipp’s women’s-fastest 1:19:31 half marathon propelled her to a 3:53:03 finish and a 3:52 margin over the 4-time Ironman World Champion and 5-time Ironman 70.3 World titlist.

Men

Olympic distance veteran Marten Van Riel emerged from the water in 22:49 with a 1 second advantage over Pierre Le Corre of France, 3 seconds over Baekkegard and 4 seconds over Andrea Salvisberg of Switzerland.

After a slightly slower transition and a men’s-best 1:53:28 bike split, Baekkegard led Van Riel by one second starting the run while the next nine contenders fell 5:55 to 7:08 arrears. Thanks to Olympic distance transition skills, Van Riel motored through T2 with a 15 seconds advantage over the Dane.

By the 4-kilometer point of the run, Van Riel increased his lead on Baekkegard to 43 seconds, and at the 13-kilometer mark, Van Riel enjoyed a one-minute margin. After a men’s second-quickest 1:07:56 run, Van Riel finished in 3:26:06 with a 1:47 margin on Baekkegard (1:09:30 run) and 6:54 on Pierre Le Corre of France, who made up ground with a race-best 1:07:37 half marathon.

In his second win at the 70.3 distance, Van Riel took the measure of the current Ironman 70.3 World Championship bronze medalist Baekkegard. Van Riel thus continued a 2021 hot streak that concluded with two close short course runner-up finishes at the Edmonton Grand Final and Super League Malibu.

Le Corre finished with a race-best 1:07:37 run and made the final slot on podium in his first Ironman 70.3 start. Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt had an off-form day, taking 10th place, 23 minutes back of Van Riel.

Ironman 70.3 Dubai
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
March 5, 2022
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Women

1. Laura Philipp (GER) S 26:28 T1 00:55 B 2:04:52 T2 1:19 R 1:19:31 TOT 3:53:03
2. Daniela Ryf (SUI) S 26:29 T1 1:23 B 2:04:26 T2 1:27 R 1:23:12 TO 3:56:55
3. Lotte Lucas (UAE) S 26:26 T1 00:56 B 2:13:03 T2 1:32 R 1:25:08 TOT 4:07:03
4. Leanne Fanoy (NED) S 30:42 T1 1:46 B 2:13:34 T2 1:54 R 1:20:02 TOT 4:07:56
5. Kirralee Seidel (AUS) S 27:10 T1 00:50 B 2:17:59 T2 1:58 R 1:22:34 TOT 4:10:29
6. Carolin Lehrieder (GER) S 27:09 T1 00:57 B 2:13:13 T2 1:43 R 1:28:02 TOT 4:11:01
7. Alexia Bailly (FRA) S 28:40 T1 00:57 B 2:17:51 T2 1:34 R 1:24:44 TOT 4:13:44
8. Lucy Byram (GBR) S 27:11 T1 00:54 B 2:17:52 T2 2:05 R 1:25:43 TOT 4:13:53
9. Elena Illeditsch (GER) S 30:39 T1 1:23 B 2:16:47 T2 1:16 R 1:25:18 TOT 4:15:20

Men

1. Marten Van Riel (BEL) S 22:49 T1 00:53 B 1:53:28 T2 1:02 R 1:07:56 TOT 3:26:06
2. Daniel Baekkegard (DEN) S 22:52 T1 00:47 B 1:53:31 T2 1:17 R 1:09:30 TOT 3:27:54
3. Pierre Le Corre (FRA) S 22:50 T1 00:54 B 2:00:34 R2 1:08 R 1:07:37 TOT 3:33:01
4. Andrea Salvisberg (SUI) S 22:53 T1 00:50 B 2:00:09 T2 1:14 R 1:10:48 TOT 3:35:53
5. Filipe Azevedo (POR) S 22:56 T1 00:45 B 1:59:25 T2 1:28 R 1:12:36 TOT 3:37:07
6. Antony Costes (FRA) S 24:07 T1 00:53 B 1:58:50 T2 1:13 R 1:12:20 TOT 3:37:21
7. Bart Aernouts (BEL) S 28:21 T1 1:00 b 1:54:28 T2 1:15 R 1:13:27 TOT 3:38:18
8. David Plese (SLO) S 25:33 T1 00:56 B 2:00:47 T2 1:26 R 1:16:38 TOT 3:45:18
9. Ryan Christian (AUS) S 25:21 T1 1:04 B 1:59:46 T2 1:10 R 1:19:53 TIT 3:47:12
10. Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) S 24:00 T1 00:48 B 2:09:20 T2 1:24 R 1:13:39 TOT 3:49:07