Lotte Wilms, a Dutch-born former pro swimmer who lives in Sydney, won her 70.3 debut in dominating fashion with a women’s-best swim, bike and run that gave her a 3:43 margin of victory over Aussie Kirralee Seidel and 7:28 over 3rd place finisher Hannah Wells of New Zealand.
Nicholas Free, a 23-year-old making the transition from Olympic- to middle-distance triathlon, gradually moved from 9th at the swim, 8th on the bike to then slice through the field with a race-best 1:11:29 run to finish in 3:39:45 with a 1:18 margin on early race leader Josh Amberger and 1:52 on 3rd place Caleb Noble.
Women
Wilms, who switched to triathlon in 2017, had been trying for a 2020 Olympics and did win a reserve slot. While training in Cairns, Wilms crashed when she slipped on train tracks in the wet and could not run for three weeks. Three days before Sunshine Coast, Wilms grandfather died unexpectedly back in Netherlands and she was unable to attend her sister’s wedding the weekend of the race.
With her emotions upset, Wilms was still able to have an 3exceppebnd race. She led the swim with a 24:13 split that gave her a minute lead over Gillian Backhouse and 2:13 over Wells. On her way to a women’s-best 2:18:18 bike split, Wilms opened a 4:17 lead on Wells and 5:24 in Kirralee Seidel of Australia.
While Kirralee Seidel finished with a women’s-best 1:24:28 half marathon, that sliced just 90 seconds from Wilms’ lead. After a second-best 1:25:58 run split, Wilms finished in 4:11:34 with a 3:43 lead on Seidel, who overtook Wells halfway through the run. Seidel ran 1:29:20, who took 3rd, 7:28 behind the winner.
Men
Super swimmer-bike Josh Amberger of Australia led the swim in 22:38, 22 seconds ahead of Aussies Ryan Fisher and Kurt McDonald, 24 seconds ahead of Lachlan Kerin,, 32 seconds ahead of Steve McKenna and Caleb Noble, 37 seconds ahead of Joe Begbie and Jack Soski, and 38 seconds ahead of Free.
After a second-best 2:00:45 bike split, Amberger led Lachlan Kerin by 5 seconds, Steve McKenna by 25 seconds, Fraser Walsh by 1:52, Ryan Fisher by 1:55, Kurt McDonald by 1:58, Caleb Noble by 2:00 and Nicholas Free had 2:03 to make up in order to take the lead.
“Going out onto the run I thought I’m a chance here,” Free told Scoop Media. “I felt really, really, good and saw that the time gap was coming down fast.”
Unsure of where he stood, Free told Scoop Media, “Until about 3km to go I didn’t really believe, I made sure that basically every person I passed on course gave me a time gap and they were letting me know if they could see Josh coming from behind. Luckily I was able to hold them off.”
Ironman 70.3 Sunshine Coast
September 12, 2021
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Pro Men
1. Nicholas Free (AUS) S 23:16 T1 1:17 B 2:02:26 T2 1:20 R 1:11:29 TOT 3:39:45
2. Josh Amberger (AUS) S 22:38 T1 1:33 B 2:00:45 T2 1:00 R 1:15:09 TOT 3:41:03
3. Caleb Noble (AUS) S 23:10 T1 1:17 B 2:02:29 T2 1:10 R 1:13:32 TOT 3:41:37
4. Fraser Walsh (AUS) S 23:17 T1 1:14 B 2:02:17 T2 1:10 R 1:15:07 TOT 3:43:04
5. Steve McKenna (AUS) S 23:10 T1 1:22 B 2:00:50 T2 1:20 R 1:16:38 TOT 3:43:18
6. Kurt McDonald (AUS) S 23:01 T1 1:20 B 2:02:34 T2 1:08 R 1:15:25 TOT 3:43:26
7. Jack Sosinski (AUS) S 23:15 T1 1:21 B 2:02:27 T2 1:09 R 1:17:33 TOT 3:45:45
8. Kieran Storch (AUS) S 24:38 T1 1:21 B 2:03:46 T2 1:12 R 1:15:10 TOT 3:46:06
9. Yoann Colin (AUS) S 24:38 T1 1:28 B 2:07:55 T2 1:09 R 1:12:29 TOT 3:47:37
10. Matt Burton (AUS) S 24:39 T1 1:43 B 2:03:217 T2 1:17 R 1:18:52 TOT 3:49:46
Pro Women
1. Lotte Wilms (NED) S 24:13 T1 1:41 B 2:18:18 T2 1:26 R 1:25:58 TOT 4:11:34
2. Kirralee Seidel (AUS) S 26:41 T1 1:32 B 2:21:24 T2 1:15 R 1:24:28 TOT 4:15:17
3. Hannah Wells (NZL) S 26:26 T1 1:47 B 2:20:16 T2 1:15 R 1:29:20 TOT 4:19:02
4. Sarah Thomas (AUS) S 34:02 T1 1:41 B 2:25:31 T2 1:16 R 1:33:23 TOT 4:35:50
5. Shannon Sutton (AUS) S 34:09 T1 2:13 B 2:30:10 T2 1:38 R 1:33:53 TOT 4:42:01
6. Kate Bramley (AUS) S 31:15 T1 1:58 B 2:50:46 T2 1:17 R 1:34:48 TOT 5:00:02
