Sam Long of the U.S. edged defending champ Tyler Butterfield of Bermuda by 51 seconds and Holly Lawrence of Great Britain outpaced Romina Biagioli of Argentina by 9:57 at Ironman 70.3 Cozumel.

Long put together a 12th-best 23:57 swim, a by-far race-best 1:58:25 bike split and a 3rd-quickest 1:17:47 half marathon to finish in 3:52:44 with a 51 second margin over defending champion Butterfield and 4:13 over third-place finisher Mauricio Mendez Cruz of Mexico.

In a sign of the speed on the day, Long’s finishing time outperformed Butterfield’s 2019 winning time by 7:38.

Lawrence combined a women’s second-best 21:35 swim, a devastating 2:15:29 bike split which was 6:56 better than her nearest rival, and a women’s 4th best 1:27:11 half marathon to finish in 4:07:17 with a 9:57 margin of victory over Biagioli and 11:33 over third place finisher Cecilia Perez of Mexico.

Lawrence thus finished 11:36 faster than the 2019 women's winner Ellie Salthouse of Australia.

Men's Race

Irving Perez of Mexico led the men’s swim with a 20:35 split that gave him 31 seconds lead on Flavio Morandini of Argentina and Martin Ulloa of Chile, 33 seconds on Luciano Taccone of Argentina, 35 seconds on Mauricio Mendez of Mexico, 37 seconds on Rodrigo Gonzalez of Mexico, 1:30 on Butterfield, 1:38 on Nicholas Chase of the U.S., 2:35 on Matt Hanson of the U.S., 2:46 on Jackson Laundry of Canada, 3:22 on Long and 3:23 on Taylor Reid of Canada.

Long broke up the field with a smashing 1:58:25 bike split that gave him a 5:55 lead on Nicholas Chase of the U.S., 6:13 on Butterfield, 4:20 on Ulloa, 4:24 on Laundry, 4:25 on Hanson, 4:53 on Mendez Cruz and 4:55 on Taccone.

In a fierce chase, Butterfield ran a race-best 1:14:32 half marathon that cut 3:15 off Long’s lead but still left the Bermudan 51 seconds short of the victory. Mendez Cruz ran a third-best 1:17:06 to take third place, 4:13 off the leader. Luciano Taccone ran a fifth-best 1:18:25 to take fourth place, 5:58 off the lead, and Matt Hanson ran 1:20:30 to take 5th place, 7:05 behind Long.

Women's Race

Lizeth Rueda of Mexico led the women’s swim with a 21:37 split that gave her a 2 seconds lead on Lawrence, a 1:07 lead on Romina Biagioli of Argentina, 3:08 on Kelsey Withrow of the U.S., and 3:15 and 3:16 on Mexicans Vanessa De La Torre and Cecilia Perez.

After a superb 2:15:29 bike split, Lawrence held an 11:28 lead on Rueda, 12:45 on Withrow, 12:51 on Biagioli, 17:17 on De La Torre, 19:50 on Palmira Alvarez and 19:53 on Sarah Bishop of the U.S.

Taking her time with such a large lead, Lawrence came home with a women’s 4th-best 1:27:11 half marathon to finish in 4:07:17 with a 9:57 margin over Biagioli (who ran a women’s best 1:23:51 run split), 11:33 over third-place Perez, 14:54 over Rueda and 15:49 over De La Torre.

Ironman 70.3 Cozumel

Cozumel, Mexico
September 27, 2020
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Men

1. Sam Long (USA) S 23:57 T1 1:23 B 1:58:25 T2 1:14 R 1:17:47 TOT 3:42:44
2. Tyler Butterfield (BER) S 22:05 T1 1:35 B 2:04:18 T2 1:17 R 1:14:32 TOT 3:43:35
3. Mauricio Mendez Cruz (MEX) S 21:10 T1 1:17 B 2:06:10 T2 1:16 R 1:17:06 TOT 3:46:57
4. Luciano Taccone (ARG) S 21:08 T1 1:14 B 2:06:18 T2 1:40 R 1:18:25 TOT 3:48:42
5. Matt Hanson (USA) S 23:10 T1 1:32 B 2:03:27 T2 1:12 R 1:20:30 TOT 3:49:49
6. Jackson Laundry (CAN) S 23:21 T1 1:29 B 2:03:18 T2 1:11 R 1:23:13 TOT 3:52:31
7. Rodrigo Gonzalez (MEX) S 21:12 T1 1:16 B 2:10:52 T2 1:41 R 1:17:52 TOT 3:52:50
8. Flavio Morandini (ARG) S 21:06 T1 1:25 B 2:06:10 T2 1:18 R 1:24:11 TOT 3:54:07
9. Irving Perez (MEX) S 20:35 T1 1:32 B 2:08:45 T2 2:04 R 1:23:27 TOT 3:56:21
10. Taylor Reid (CAN) S 23:58 T1 1:39 B 2:07:40 T2 1:22 R 1:23:02 TOT 3:57:39

Women

1. Holly Lawrence (GBR) S 21:39 T1 1:23 B 2:15:29 T2 1:38 R 1:27:11 TOT 4:07:17
2. Romina Biagioli (ARG) S 22:44 T1 1:27 B 2:27:11 T2 2:03 R 1:23:51 TOT 4:17:14
3. Cecilia Perez (MEX) S 24:53 T1 1:33 B 2:24:48 T2 2:00 R 1:25:38 TOT 4:18:50
4. Lizeth Rueda (MEX) S 21:37 T1 1:40 B 2:26:42 T2 1:53 R 1:30:21 TOT 4:22:11
5. Vanessa De La Torre (MEX) S 24:52 T1 1:39 B 2:29:17 T2 1:38 R 1:25:42 TOT 4:23:06
6. Kelsey Withrow (USA) S 24:45 T1 1:43 B 2:24:49 T2 1:59 R 1:33:03 TOT 4:26:16
7. Adriana Carreno Cruz (MEX) S 25:10 T1 1:39 B 2:29:25 T2 1:31 R 1:28:55 TOT 4:26:38
8. Sarah Bishop (USA) S 31:41 T1 2:17 B 2:24:26 T2 1:48 R 1:32:50 TOT 4:32:59
9. Fatima Alanis (MEX) S 28:21 T1 1:42 B 2:31:06 T2 1:32 R 1:32:45 TOT 4:35:23
10. Palmira Alvarez (MEX) S 33:56 T1 2:00 B 2:22:25 T2 1:59 R 1:37:59 TOT 4:38:17