70.3 World Champion Michael Raelert added the European title to his resume with a record breaking win at the 2010 Ironman 70.3 Germany. Yvonne Van Vlerken also grabbed a new course record as she defended her title, but Desiree Ficker was only 22 seconds behind.

The men

Despite the cold and rainy conditions in Wiesbaden, Germany, the younger Raelert was considered to be the favorite in this event even though his titles in Clearwater, Florida and Oceanside, California happened in much warmer temperatures and under sunny blue skies. In addition there were some very serious challengers at the start, among them defending champion Sebastian Kienle, another rising star in the German triathlon scene. But it was Stanislav Krylov who managed to get out of the waters of the Schiersteiner Hafen first. The Russian though had a bunch of men right on his heels and among them were Raelert, Philip Graves, Filip Ospaly and Björn Andersson.

Once on the bikes, it became the "Raelert and Andersson" show, as the two strong cyclists set a hard pace and no one else was able to stay with them. Kienle started his day on the bike in 15th place almost 3 minutes down on Raelert and Andersson, and while he is known for his cycling prowess too, that gap was just too much. At about the 28 mile mark Andersson got away from Raelert and started to gain some serious time. By the time he hit T2, the Swede had recorded the fastest bike split with a time of 2:18:35 and had a 3:13 lead over the German. Kienle's second fastest split of 2:20:26 helped him to arrive in transition about a minute behind Raelert.

The Germans set off in pursuit of Andersson, only separated from each other by half a minute at various times, and around the 10k mark the catch was made first by Raelert and then by Kienle. From that point on Raelert started to gain on Kienle and by the time he hit the finish line he had 2:08 on Kienle and a new course record time of 4:03:48. Andersson held on to third place with a 1:23:50 run and a strong performance all day.

The women

Rachel Joyce set a new swim record in 25:29, but Swiss Pro Nicole Hofer was only a second behind her as the two got out of the water well ahead of the other Pro females.

Hofer set a hard pace on the bike and soon was alone in the lead. Behind her Julia Wagner was riding well too and soon found herself in second position. A bit further back Desiree Ficker and defending champion Yvonne Van Vlerken were flying along too but they were several minutes behind Hofer. Van Vlerken eventually caught up to Ficker, but neither of them managed to ride as fast as Hofer. The Swiss reached T2 4:43 ahead of Wagner and 5:10 ahead of Ficker and Van Vlerken.

The two soon ran past Wagner in pursuit of the lone leader Hofer and while they were clearly moving faster the catch did not come until 17k into the half marathon. Van Vlerken got a slight gap on Ficker right after and managed to hold it until the finish line and thus successfully defended her title in course record time of 4:41:52. Ficker crossed the line in second 22 seconds later and Kristin Möller charged past Hofer with 1/2 k to go to take the final podium spot.

"It's easier to win a race than to defend your title in the year after. That's why it makes this title so valuable to me," said Van Vlerken to slowtwitch. "There were moments that I doubted that I could win, especially when Des and I came off the bike 5 minutes down. But I wanted it badly and could lay it all on the table, also because Desiree and I pushed each other to the limit."

Ironman 70.3 Germany
Wiesbaden, Germany / August 15, 2010
1.2 m swim / 56m bike / 13.1 m run

Top 10 men

1. Michael Raelert (GER) 4:03:48
2. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 4:05:55
3. Björn Andersson (SWE) 4:09:09
4. Felix Schumann (GER) 4:09:22
5. Boris Stein (GER) 4:10:35 *AG M25-29
6. Ollie Whistler (AUS) 4:15:07
7. Maik Twelsiek (GER) 4:16:37
8. Joel Jameson (GBR) 4:17:28
9. Philip Graves (GBR) 4:18:05
10. Uwe Widmann (GER) 4:19:07

Top 10 women

1. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 4:41:52
2. Desiree Ficker (USA) 4:42:15
3. Kristin Möller (GER) 4:43:10
4. Nicole Hofer (SWI) 4:44:27
5. Julia Wagner (GER) 4:45:16
6. Diana Riesler (GER) 4:52:13
7. Nina Kuhn (GER) 4:53:02 * AG W25-29
8. Jenny Schulz (GER) 4:54:23
9. Rachel Joyce (GBR) 4:58:36
10. Sonja Jaarsveld (NED) 5:00:29