Skye Moench of the U.S. and Lionel Sanders of Canada won tight battles against stacked fields at Ironman 70.3 Texas in Galveston.
Moench overcame a 3:51 deficit after the swim with a women’s 2nd-fastest bike split and a women’s 3rd-best half marathon to finish in 4:10:01 with a 1:17 margin over Jeanni Metzler of South Africa and 2:59 over third place finisher Sophie Watts of the U.S.
Lionel Sanders of Canada overcame a 1:37 deficit to top swimmer Ben Kanute of the U.S. with a 3rd-fastest 2:01:44 bike split and a 3rd-best 1:11:52 half marathon to finish in 3:43:01 with a 20 seconds margin over Kanute and 25 seconds over 3rd place finisher Sam Long of the U.S.
While the racing was close and full of back and forth dueling, online fans were fiercely critical and frustrated by the poor and virtually nonexistent streaming commentary that left fans in the dark until the official results came available well after the race concluded.
Women
Pamella Oliveira of Brazil led the women’s swim wave with a 26:38 split that gave her a 37 seconds margin over Watts, 1:02 over Metzler, 1:13 over Dede Griesbauer, 1:15 over Kimberley Morrison of Great Britain, 2:23 over Jackie Hering of the U.S. and 2:28 over Moench.
After a women’s-best 2:15:58 bike split, Kimberley Morrison of Great Britain arrived at T2 with a 2:28 lead on Moench (2nd-best 2:17:08 bike split) and 6 minutes over Jeanni Metzler.
Metzler made a final charge with a women’s-fastest 1:15:27 run split – 5:16 faster than Moench’s 1:20:43 - but fell 1:17 short of Moench’s winning time. Sophie Watts charged hard with a 1:19:45 run split, but 1:42 short of Metzler and had to settle for 3rd place at 4:13:00.
Men
Ben Kanute led the men’s swim wave with a 24:59 split that gave him a 45 seconds lead on Jackson Laundry of Canada, 48 seconds on Fredrik Henes of Germany, 53 seconds on Matt Hanson of the U.S., and 1:37 on Sanders.
Unfortunately, Joe Skipper of Great Britain was very fit and riding in the top five when he was caught in a complex penalty situation and ultimately suffered a DQ. Skipper explained his plight on Facebook:
“After around 42-43k I was in a group of 3 with Lionel up front and then the guy behind him let the gap get a bit bigger. I wasn’t sure if he was getting dropped and I didn’t want the gap to get too big so I overtook him and slotted in behind Lionel. Then around 3k later a marshal came up and showed me a blue card. I was perplexed as to what I had done. I asked him and he said ‘cutting in’ apparently I overtook him and cut in too early. (It was my understanding once you overtake a rider it’s down to them to drop back). I asked him how long the penalty was for and he said 5 minutes just before T2. At this point I made the decision I would carry on to test my form and would be DQ’d,”
After a race-best 1:59:58 bike split, Sam Long arrived at T2 with a short lead on Sanders (third-best 2:01:44 bike split], and Herbst [2:01:48]. Kanute was 4th at T2 but 54 seconds behind Herbst of Germany. After an unspectacular 2:06:03 bike split, Matt Hanson of the U.S. stood 4th, 4:26 behind Herbst.
After a third-best 1:11:52 half marathon, Lionel Sanders took the lead by 1:01 over Kanute and 1:06 over third place Sam Long, who ran 1:12:32. Matt Hanson, who ran a race-best 1:10:10 , placed 4th, 1:04 behind Sam Long. Andreas Dreitz of Germany closed with 1:15:15 run split, took 5th place, 1:59 behind Hanson. Bart Aernouts of Belgium, finished 6th, 33 seconds behind Dreitz.
Sam Long showed a lot of his recent improved form but could not make up for a 28:26 swim. “I know I should be happy, but I'm simply not,” he wrote on Facebook. “I've been committed to the swim and was seeing faster times in the pool and then absolutely dropped the ball on the swim. After the swim I was on a punishment journey to myself and got myself into the race with the fastest bike by a large margin [1:59:58] and a 1:12:32 run."
Photo: Kenny Withrow
Ironman 70.3 Texas
Galveston, Texas
April 11, 2021
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi / R 13.1 mi.
Men
1. Lionel Sanders (CAN) S 26:36 T1 1:34 B 2:01:44 T2 1:17 R 1:11:52 TOT 3:43:01
2. Ben Kanute (USA) S 24:59 T1 1:27 B 2:03:47 T2 1:04 R 1:12:06 TOT 3:43:21
3. Sam Long (USA) S 28:26 T1 1:28 B 1:59:58 T2 1:05 R 1:12:32 TOT 3:43:26
4. Matthew Hanson (USA) S 25:52 T1 1:31 B 2:06:03 T2 00:57 R 1:10:10 TOT 3:44:30
5. Andreas Dreitz (GER) S 26:46 T1 1:34 B 2:01:41 T2 1:16 R 1:15:15 TOT 3:46:30
6. Bart Aernouts (BEL) S 27:59 T1 12:46 B 2:03:18 T2 1:14 R 1:12:48 TOT 3:47:03
7. Marcus Herbst (GER) S 26:42 T1 1:30 B 2:01:48 T2 1:13 R 1:16:11 TOT 3:47:23
8. Frederik Henes (GER) S 25:47 T1 1:40 B 2:06:02 T2 1:21 R 1:13:33 TOT 3:48:21
9. Justin Metzler (USA) S 25:16 T1 1:20 B 2:06:47 T2 1:22 R 1:15:01 TOT 3:49:43
10. Michael Weiss (AUT) S 28:26 T1 1:41 B 2:02:54 T2 1:08 R 1:17:47 TOT 3:51:54
Women
1. Skye Moench (USA) S 29:06 T1 1:39 B 2:17:08 T2 1:27 R 1:20:43 TOT 4:10:01
2. Jeanni Metzler (RSA) S 27:40 T1 1:54 B 2:24:52 T2 1:28 R 1:15:27 TOT 4:11:18
3. Sophie Watts (USA) S 27:15 T1 1:54 B 2:22:51 T2 1:37 R 1:19:45 TOT 4:13:00
4. Heather Jackson (USA) S 30:435 T1 1:47 B 2:19:49 T2 1:04 R 1:21:43 TOT 4:15:06
5. Kimberley Morrison (GBR) S 27:53 T1` 1:34 B 2:15:58 T2 1:28 R 1:29:23 TOT 4:16:14
6. Pamella Oliveira (BRA) S 26:38 T1 1:42 B 2:22:46 T2 1:25 R 1:24:04 TOT 4:16:34
7. Jackie Hering (USA) S 29:01 T1 1:45 B 2:23:37 T2 1:31 R 1:22:12 TOT 4:18:05
8. Lisa Becharas (USA) S 29:53 T1 1:L39 B 2:17:25 T2 1:16 R 1:29:59 TOT 4:20:10
9. Simone Mitchell (GBR) S 30:04 T1 2:00 B 2:23:06 T2 1:33 R 1:26:33 TOT 4:23:13
10. Dede Griesbauer (USA) S 27:51 T1 1:51 B 2:17:28 T2 1:48 R 1:35:55 TOT 4:24:50
