Andy Potts won his sixth Ironman and Heather Jackson her first, both of them in dominating fashion in crushing heat at Ironman Coeur d’Alene.
Men
Potts began his day 8 seconds behind swim leader Barrett Brandon, posted a race-best 4:33:13 bike split to earn an 8:37 lead at T2, then finished it off with a race-best 2:53:25 marathon – no one else broke 3 hours - that brought him to the finish in 8:20:35 with a 20:37 margin of victory over Callum Millward of New Zealand and 22:29 over 3rd place finisher Stephen Kilshaw of Canada.
On a day that reached 101 degrees Fahrenheit in mid-afternoon, Potts fell 3 minutes short of the course record set by Ben Hoffman in 2013 but simply squashed all rivals on his way to defending his 2014 title.
After the race Potts told Ironman Live, “I pushed hard when I was feeling bad and I pushed hard when I was feeling good.”
Women
Heather Jackson, whose Ironman PR was a 3rd place last year at Arizona and who had a disappointing 11th-place outing at Ironman Texas this spring, made up for an 8-minutes deficit after the swim with a race-best 5:08:31 bike split that took back 11 minutes from swim leader Amanda Stevens. Whereupon Jackson slammed the door shut on all her chasers with a race-best 3:08:54 run and crossed the line in 9:23:27 with a 16:49 margin of victory over Stevens, who led until Mile 66 of the bike, and 26:52 over 3rd-place finisher Kim Schwabenbauer.
Unfortunately, U.S. pro Dede Griesbauer’s day ended with a crash that left her right arm in a sling.
Ironman Coeur d’Alene
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
June 28, 2015
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Men
1. Andy Potts (USA) 8:20:35
2. Callum Millward (NZL) 8:41:12
3. Stephen Kilshaw (CAN) 8:43:04
4. Trevor Wurtele (CAN) 8:46:38
5. Barrett Brandon (USA) 8:47:29
6. Trevor Delsaut (FRA) 8:47:49
7. Pedro Gomes (PRT) 8:53:15
8. Matt Russell (USA) 8:57:34
9. Derek Garcia (USA) 8:58:55
10. Jonathan Shearon (USA) 9:02:01
Women
1. Heather Jackson (USA) 9:23:27
2. Amanda Stevens (USA) 9:40:16
3. Kim Schwabenbauer (USA) 9:50:19
4. Amber Ferreira (USA) 9:58:53
5. Katy Blakemore (USA) 9:59:18
6. Leslie Dimichele Miller (USA) 10:02:29
7. Tamara Kozulina (UKR) 10:09:29
8. Ashley Paulson (USA) 10:13:52 * F30-34
9. Sarah Graves (USA) 10:18:18
10. Alyssa Godesky (USA) 10:18:38
