Heather Jackson posted the 10th fastest women’s Ironman-distance mark today while winning Ironman Arizona in a time of 8:39:18. Jackson had a margin of victory of 4:55 over Carrie Lester of Australia and 12:11 over third place Jen Annett of Canada.

The win was Jackson’s 4th Ironman title coming after wins at Coeur d’Alene in 2015 and at Lake Placid in 2016 and 2018.

Eneko Llanos of Spain, at age 41, ended a long Ironman victory drought with an 8:04:24 finish on the Tempe course which gave him a 4:17 margin of victory over fellow Spaniard Clemente Alonso-McKernan and 5:29 over 3rd place finisher TJ Tollakson of the U.S.

The win adds to Llanos’ stellar Ironman résumé which includes wins at Lanzarote in 2007, Frankfurt in 2008 and 2013, Texas in 2011, Melbourne in 2013 as well as second at Kona in 2008.

Men

Llanos started his day with a men’s 4th-best 49:48 split which put him six seconds behind swim leader Nicholas Granet of France, 5 seconds ahead of Clemente Alonso-McKernan of Spain, 1:57 ahead of Andreas Dreitz of Germany and 2:05 ahead of TJ Tollakson of the U.S.

Llanos quickly rode into the lead at 10 miles, surrendered the lead by a small margin to Andreas Dreitz of Germany at Mile 20. Halfway through the ride, Dreitz charged into a 2:04 lead on Tollakson, 5:17 on Llanos, 5:20 on Philip Graves of the UK, 5:26 on Alonso-McKernan, 6:55 on Granet and 7:27 on David Plese of Slovenia.

After a race-best 4:14:34 bike split, Dreitz led at T2 by 1 second on Tollakson, 3:40 on Plese, 6:45 on Alonso-McKernan, 7:18 on Llanos (4:21:52 bike split) and 7:21 on Graves.

After 8 miles on the run, Dreitz led Tollakson by 39 seconds, Llanos by 4:05, Alonso-McKernan by 5:22 and David Plese by 6:10.

Halfway through the run, Dreitz and Tollakson ran matching 1:26 splits, giving the German a 32 seconds margin on Tollakson, 2:57 on Llanos, and 4:38 on Alonso-McKernan.

By Mile15, Llanos swept past Dreitz and Tollakson on his way to a race-best 2:47:31 marathon and a 4:17 margin of victory over Alonso-McKernan, who ran 2:51:14 for the runner-up slot. Tollakson ran 2:58:16 for 3rd place, 5:29 behind Llanos.

Women

Meredith Kessler of the U.S. led the women's swim wave with a 53:02 split followed 5 seconds later by Carrie Lester of Australia, 4 minutes by Lesley Smith, 4:05 by Skye Moench of the U.S. and 4:32 arrears by Jackson.

At 20 miles of the bike leg, Lester seized a 2:03 lead on Kessler, 4:24 on Moench, 5:02 on Jackson, 8:44 on Smith and 10:36 on Ironman women's bike split record holder Jen Annett of Canada, who left the swim with an 11 minutes deficit and ambition to close the gap.

After 56 miles of the bike, Lester had a 6 minutes lead on Jackson, 6:30 on Moench, 7:30 on Kessler and 10 minutes on Annett.

After a women’s-best 4:35:14 bike split, Annett clipped her deficit to 7:35 on Lester. Lester rode a 4:37:42 bike split to take a 1:47 lead on Jackson (women’s 2nd-best 4:35:26 bike split), 7:20 on Moench, 7:35 on Annett and 14:47 on Kessler who was obviously off form.

Lester held on to her lead until 11 miles of the run when Jackson stormed past on her way to a women’s-best 3:00:48 marathon, an 8:39:18 finish and a 4:55 margin of victory over Lester (3:07:41 run) and 12:11 over 3rd place Annett (3:07:35 run split).

Ironman Arizona
Tempe, Arizona
November 18, 2018
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / T 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Eneko Llanos (ESP) 8:04:24 S 49:48 T1 3:32 B 4:21:52 T2 1:43 R 2:47:31
2. Clemente Alonso-McKernan (ESP) 8:08:41 S 49:52 T1 3:55 B 4:21:19 T2 2:23 R 2:51:14
3. TJ Tollakson (USA) 8:09:53 S 51:53 T1 3:29 B 4:14:39 T2 1:37 R 2:58:16
4. David Plese (SVN) 8:11:37 S 55:03 T1 4:26 B 4:18:14 T2 1:22 R 2:52:34
5. Nicholas Granet (FRA) 8:15:46 S 49:42 T1 4:33 B 4:24:37 T2 2:14 R 2:54:38

Women

1. Heather Jackson (USA) 8:39:18 S 57:33 T1 4:01 B 4:35:26 T2 1:31 R 3:00:49
2. Carrie Lester (AUS) 8:44:13 S 53:06 T1 4:26 B 4:37:42 T2 1:20 R 3:07:41
3. Jen Annett (CAN) 8:51:29 S 1:03:49 T1 3:45 B 4:35:14 T2 1:07 R 3:07:35
4. Skye Moench (USA) 8:58:28 S 57:07 T1 3:57 B 4:41:30 T2 3:57 R 3:14:17:
5. Lesley Smith (USA) 9:04:51 S 57:02 T1 4:47 B 4:58:08 T2 2:10
R 3:02:46.