Luke McKenzie of Australia smashed the bike leg and race records to win by 20 minutes and 26 seconds and Sarah Piampiano of the U.S. came from behind with a women's-best 3:01:18 run to win the elite titles at Ironman Western Australia.

McKenzie came back from a 2:22 deficit on the swim with a vengeance. His dazzlingly fast 4:08:12 bike leg was 10 minutes better than Mitchell Anderson’s 2006 race record and 18:37 better than his next-fastest Busselton rival Christian Kramer. The bike performance gave him a 17:22 lead at T2. McKenzie’s 7:55:58 final time also broke the 2006 race record of Jason Shortis by 7:57 and he recorded the fastest ever time for an IRONMAN on Australian soil.

After a 1:06:49 swim left her a 7:18 deficit to Georgie Rutherford and 3:56 behind Yvonne Van Vlerken, Piampiano spent most of the race chasing Van Vlerken. Piampiano’s women’s-3rd-best 4:50:46 bike split put away Rutherford but surrendered another 1:37 to Van Vlerken. Finally, about 30km into the run, Piampiano passed a fading Van Vlerken. After a women’s-best 3:01:18 run, Piampiano crossed the line in 9:03:47 with a 5:29 margin of victory over Maureen Hufe of Germany and 8:20 over 3rd-place finisher Van Vlerken.

The win was Piampiano’s first Ironman victory – earlier this year she finished 3rd at Ironman Austria and 7th at the Ironman World Championship in Kona.

Men

Defending IM Western Australia champion Denis Chevrot of France led the swim in 50:38 in a virtual tie with former champion rower Todd Skipworth of Australia, followed by Christian Kramer of Germany (+7s), Bryan Rhodes of New Zealand (+1:43), David Dellow of Australia (+2:05), Per Bittner of Germany (+2:12), Tim Reed of Australia (+2:17) and Luke McKenzie of Australia (+2:22).

By 23km, Luke McKenzie took the lead with race records on his mind and rocketed away from Kramer (+1 minute), Skipworth and Chevrot (+1:20) and Reed (+2:40). After 60km, McKenzie had a 3 minute gap on Kramer with Chevrot, Bittner and Skipworth 3:44 down and falling back.

By 134km, the wind was dropping and roads were drying out and McKenzie was accelerating his pace and increasing his lead to 10:16 over Kramer in 2nd, 14:21 ahead of Tim Reed in 5th and 18:09 on Skipworth in 6th.

On a mission, McKenzie smashed himself to arrive in T2 with the new split record of 4:08:12. That effort brought McKenzie a 17:22 lead on Kramer, 18:24 on Chevrot, and 19:10 on Bittner. Tim Reed, with his dangerous run, has a big, big ask to overtake McKenzie, who had a 20:31 advantage starting the marathon.

Through 17km, McKenzie ran like a metronome at a sub 4 minutes per km pace and held a 16:29 lead on Chevrot, 18:08 on Reed 18:46 on Kramer and 21 minutes on Bittner. Reed’s march up the ranks hit a snag at 23km as he hit his peak at 50 seconds from Chevrot and subsequently fell back to 7th 35 minutes back of the leader at 33km. Chevrot maintained his place but fell 21:25 behind McKenzie.

McKenzie ultimately earned redemption for his Kona DNF, finishing his run in 2:52:29 and crossing the line in a race record 7:55:58 – 20:26 ahead of Chevrot and 23:17 ahead of 3rd-place Per Bittner. David Dellow, who trailed miserably after a 4:38:22 bike split, made up tons of ground with a race-best 2:46:04 run to take 4th place, 23:26 behind the winner.

“That’s the way I win races by going hard on the bike, I wasn’t going to wait for them I knew I was in great form. I came around the 90km and I thought I was on for a sub 4:10 bike split. It just really set me up for that run,” said McKenzie. “I could not have done that without the crowd support literally every person on that last lap was yelling at me about the eight hours. The positive vibe just kept me going I can’t thank the crowd at Busselton enough for getting me across the line.”

Women

In rugged seas, the top pro women were markedly affected. Georgie Rutherford of Great Britain led in 59:30 with a 5:22 lead on Van Vlerken of Netherlands, 5:55 on Dimity-Lee Duke of Australia, 7:18 on Sarah Piampiano of the U.S. and 7:21 on Maureen Hufe of Germany.

By 12km, Van Vlerken took over the lead by 10 seconds over Rutherford and 34 seconds on Dimity-Lee Duke, a former motocross rider who was comfortable on rain-slick roads. Hufe and Piampiano were 4 minutes back.

By the turnaround point of the bike leg, Van Vlerken remained cool and safely passed the spot where she crashed last year. By 100km, the Dutch star powered to a 4:46 lead on Piampiano, 5:14 on Hufe, and 5:49 on Duke. Cooing off after her excellent swim, Rutherford stood 5th, 12:00 arrears. Through 113km Piampiano whittled Van Vlerken’s lead to 4:37, and then began to fall back. At 152km, Van Vlerken led Hufe by 4:29, Piampiano by 4:52, and Duke by 11:20.

Heading for the barn so to speak, Hufe stayed on the gas and cut Van Vlerken’s lead to 3:53 at 162km with Piampiano 3rd at 5:13 down.

After the 180km bike leg, Van Vlerken’s women’s 2nd-best 4:49:09 split brought her to T2 with a 3:06 lead on Hufe (women's-best 4:47:38 bike split), and 6:24 on Piampiano, who posted the women’s 3rd-best 4:50:46 split.

As the run began, Van Vlerken held her 3:04 advantage over Hufe at mile 1 and 6:14 on Piampiano while Duke ran 4th, 14 minutes adrift.

By 17km, Piampiano passed Hufe but trailed Van Vlerken by 5:05. But at 27km, Van Vlerken’s pace fell considerably – possibly due to weakness from food poisoning that struck her the day before the race. Piampiano’s surge brought her to within a minute of the leader and two minutes ahead of Hufe.

By 33km, Piampiano passed long-time leader Van Vlerken and opened up a 2:01 advantage that she would not relinquish. Within a few kilometers, Hufe advanced to second place, 4:31 behind Piampiano. But no one would take away the win from Piampiano who earned her first IRONMAN title in 9:03:47.

“I am ecstatic, this was a big goal for me this year to win an IRONMAN, it’s a great way to end the season. The wind today was so tough,” said Piampiano.

Ironman Western Australia
Busselton, Australia
December 6, 2015
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Luke McKenzie (AUS) 7:55:58
2. Denis Chevrot (FRA) 8:16:24
3. Per Bittner (GER) 8:19:15
4. David Dellow (AUS) 8:19:24
5. Jens Peterson-Bach (DEN) 8:25:04
6. Christian Kramer (GER) 8:28:33

Women

1. Sarah Piampiano (USA) 9:03:47
2. Maureen Hufe (GER) 9:09:16
3. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 9:12:07
4. Dimity-Lee Duke (AUS) 9:26:38


Images © Korupt Vision/IRONMAN