Coming off a stellar 4th place finish at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Aussie Max Neumann came within one second of Alistair Brownlee’s 2019 course record on his way to a wire-to-wire victory by a 5:27 margin over Steven McKenna at IRONMAN Western Australia in Busselton.
Neumann was made aware he was within reach of Brownlee’s record with 8 minutes to go and launched an all-out sprint that led him across the finish line in 7:45:21 - just a second off Brownlee’s mark.
Capping off an unparalleled triple crown win of all three Australian Ironman races, Sarah Crowley of Brisbane took the lead midway through the bike leg and topped Els Visser of Netherlands by 4:39.
Crowley finished in 8:46:10, Visser in 8:50:49 and Lotte Wilms in 8:52:53. Crowley’s Aussie Ironman Triple began with victories at Port Macquarie in May and Ironman Cairns in June before taking 7th at Kona.
"I love Australia and it's such a cool way to have a fabulous year after some pretty horrible ones with COVID and everything,” Crowley told Roger Vaughan of AAP. "I had lost my confidence and had to build back in with local racing in Australia and that's why I stuck to it with these races this year and now I feel like I executed what I needed to get done."
Neumann added: “I’m feeling better than I did at the end in Kona but it’s bittersweet to miss the course record by one second.”
Men’s race recap
Neumann led the swim in Geographe Bay with a 48:12 split that gave him a 2 seconds lead on McKenna, 2:44 on Mitch Kibby, 2:46 on Jack Sosinsky, then Pete Jacobs and Patrik Nilsson.
On the bike, Neumann led the field by 90 seconds over Matt Burton – who had been 10th out of the swim – and McKenna, the recent 70.3 Western Australia winner. By 4:30.
On the marathon, Neumann’s day’s-best 2:41:54 split brought him to the line in 7:45:22, 5:27 ahead of McKenna (2:43:07 run split) and 5:27 ahead of Burton (2:51:25 run split).
Women’s race recap
Queensland-based Dutch pro Lotte Wilms emerged from the waster in 51:48 with a 2:55 lead on Radka Kahlefeldt of the Czech Republic, 2:56 on Crowley, 6:56 on Anna Lee Martinovich and 7:29 on Else Visser. Gradually, Crowley whittled away on Wilms lead, passing her Dutch rival at the 100km mark.
Visser produced a second-best 3:01:50 marathon to move into second but Crowley closed out the win by over four minutes in 8:46:10.
Early leader Wilms claimed third while a sub-three hour run moved defending champion Kylie Simpson (2:58:23 split) up to fourth.
Ironman Western Australia
Busselton, Western Australia
December 4, 2022
S 2.4 mi. / B `112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Pro Men Results
1. Max Neumann (AUS) S 48:12 T1 2:23 B 4:10:11 T2 2:40 R 2:41:53 TOT 7:45:22
2. Steve Mckenna (AUS) S 48:14 T1 2:29 B 4:14:30 T1 2:26 R 2:43:07 TOT 7:50:49
3. Matt Burton (AUS) S 52:41 T1 3:46 B 4:05:43 T2 2:31 R 2:51:25 TOT 7:56:09
4. Mitch Kirby (AUS) S 50: 56 T1 2:37 B 4:17:11 T2 2:24 R 2:48:42 TOT 8:01:53
5. Fraser Walsh (AUS) S 51:05 T1 2:25 B 4:35:19 T2 3:17 R 2:49:57 TOT 8:22:05
6. Jack Sosinski (AUS) S 50:58 T1 2:43 B 4:20:52 T2 2:27 R 3:06:16 TOT 8:23:18
7. Rhys Lawler (AUS) S 57:24 T1 3:39 B 4:28:39 T2 2:56 R 2:51:56 TOT 8:24:36
8. Levi Hauwert (AUS) S 54:45 T1 2:36 B 4:25:44 T2 2:23 R 2:59:52 TOT 8:25:21
9. Lachlan Kerin (AUS) S 52:39 T1 2:28 B 4:15:47 T2 2:42 R 3:12:57 TOT 8:26:35
10. Matt Lewis (AUS) S 54:47 T1 2:37 B 4:25:39 T2 3:08 R 3:03:52 TOT 8:30:05
Pro Women Results
1. Sarah Crowley (AUS) S 54:43 T1 2:43 B 4:40:08 T2 2:55 R 3:05:38 TOT 8:46:09
2. Els Visser (NED) S 59:16 T1 2:37 B 4:44:46 T2 2:18 R 3:01:49 TOT 8:50:49
3. Lotte Wilms (NED) S 51:47 T1 3:26 B 4:45:55 T2 3:11 R 3:08:30TOT 8:52:53
4. Kylie Simpson (AUS) S 1:15:21 T1 2:52 B 4:36:57 T2 2:54 R 2:58:23 TOT 8:56:29
5. Radka Kahlefeldt (CZE) S 54:42 T1 2:40 B 4:49:55 T2 2:48 R 3:11:51TOT 9:01:58
6. Meredith Hill (AUS) S 59:22 T1 3:11 B 4:50:29 T2 3:26 R 3:13:05 TOT 9:09:34
7. Fiona Moriarty (IRL) S 1:01:09 T1 3:27 B 4:53:12 T2 2:23 R 3:19:18 TOT 9:19:31
8. Shannon Sutton (AUS) S 1:07:43 T1 3:44 B 4:52:48 T2 2:521 R 3:13:40 TOT 9:20:47
9. Laura Brown (AUS) S 1:02:48 T1 3:38 B 5:02:45 T2 3:16 R 3:14:44 TOT 9:27:13
10. Moya Johansson (AUS) S 59:23 T1 2:52 B 5:06:356 T2 2:24 R 3:19:23 TOT 9:30:39
