Daniela Ryf of Switzerland and Josh Amberger of Australia took the elite titles at the Rapperswil-Jona Switzerland 70.3.

In a veritable warm-up for her 2018 season, the three-time Ironman and Ironman 70.3 World Champion known to friends and fans as the Angry Bird combined women’s best swim (24:31), bike (2:13:03) and run (1:19:56) splits to finish in 4:00:54 with a 15:07 margin of victory over fellow Swiss Imogen Simmonds and 18:12 over 3rd place finisher Skye Moench of the U.S.

Amberger had more of a fight on his hands. The Australian started with a race-best 22:30 swim which gave him a 2 seconds lead on Manuel Küng of Switzerland, 3 seconds on Martin Bader of Germany, 1:10 on Mark Bowstead of New Zealand and Ruedi Wild of Switzerland, and 1:13 on Etienne Diemunsch of France.

After a second-best 2:06:36 bike split, Amberger entered T2 with a 29 seconds lead on Küng, 1:44 on Boris Stein of Germany, 3:51 on Wild, and 5:58 on Diemunsch.

Amberger wrapped up the victory with a 1:17:08 half marathon that brought him to the line in 3:49:46 with a 1:12 margin of victory over Küng and 1:45 over 3rd place finisher Stein.

Ironman 70.3 Switzerland
Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland
June 10, 2018
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Elite Women

1. Daniela Ryf (SUI) 4:00:54 S 24:31 T1 2:00 B 2:13:03 T2 1:26 R 1:19:56
2. Imogen Simmonds (SUI) 4:16:01 S 24:34 T1 2:12 B 2:21:44 T2 1:35 R 1:25:59
3. Skye Moench (USA) 4:19:06 S 27:23 T1 2:13 B 2:23:50 T2 1:38 R 1:24:04
4. Corina Hengartner (SUI) 4:30:05 S 30:31 T1 2:08 B 2:28:43 T2 1:41 R 1:27:04
5. Sonja Tajsich (GER) 4:36:28 S 30:34 T1 2:33 B 2:33:24 T2 1:59 R 1:27:59

Elite Men

1. Josh Amberger (AUS) 03:49:46 S 22:30 T1 1:59 B 2:06:36 T2 1:34 R 1:17:08
2. Manuel Kueng (SUI) 03:50:58 S 22:32 T1 2:10 B 2:06:53 T2 1:26 R 1:17:59
3. Boris Stein (GER) 03:51:31 S 25:37 T1 1:59 B 2:05:15 T2 1:33 R 1:17:09
4. Ruedi Wild (SUI) 03:57:18 S 23:40 T1 2:09 b 2:09:08 T2 1:33 R 1:20:50
5. Etienne Diemunsch (FRA) 03:59:00 S 23:43 T1 2:03 B 2:11:18 T2 1:24 R 1:20:34