Simmonds, Wild win Laguna Phuket

Imogen Simmonds and Ruedi Wild made the 26th Laguna Phuket Triathlon an all-Swiss affair at the top of the podium at the famed Thailand resort.

Simmonds led the women’s 1.8-kilometer swim with a 26:32 split and lengthened her lead with a dominating 1:16:49 split for the 50-kilometer bike leg – 4:21 better than the next best effort of her rivals. Simmonds, who finished 12th at the Ironman World Championship in October, closed with a women’s second-best 47:32 split for the 12-kilometer run to finish in 2:33:14 with a 6:17 margin of victory over Emma Pallant of Great Britain (women’s-best 46:03 run split) and 12:58 over 3rd place finisher Dimity Lee Duke of Australia.

Wild earned his third Laguna Phuket Triathlon title with a second-best 23:41 swim split that put him 11 seconds behind swim leader and three-time Laguna Phuket champion Michael Raelert of Germany. Wild cut six seconds off Raelert’s lead with a race-best 1:11:22 bike split, then clinched the victory with a 2nd-best 43:56 run which brought him to the line in 2:21:07 with a 1:27 margin of victory over Raelert (45:31 run) and 5:13 over 3rd place finisher Krzysztof Hadas of Poland, who closed with a race-best 40:59 run split.

Wild thus took his third Laguna Phuket Triathlon victory after wins in 2012 and 2013. Raelert previously won in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Laguna Phuket Triathlon
Laguna Phuket, Thailand
November 24, 2019
1.8k / B 50k / R 12k

Results

Women

1. Imogen Simmonds (SUI) 2:33:14 S 26:32 B 1:16:49 R 47:32
2. Emma Pallant (GBR) 2:39:31 S 27:51 B 1:23:15 R 46:03
3. Dimity Lee Duke (AUS) 2:46:12 S 29:10 B 1:22:28 R 51:50
4. Sylvia Gehnboeck (AUT) 2:50:54 S 30:59 B 1:21:10 R 55:56
5. Laura Wood (AUS) 2:54:36 S 27:09 B 1:28:53 R 55:57

Men

1. Ruedi Wild (SUI) 2:21:07 S 23:41 B 1:11:22 R 43:56
2. Michael Raelert (GER) 2:22:34 S 23:30 B 1:11:28 R 45:31
3. Krzysztof Hadas (POL) 2:26:20 S 26:20 B 1:16:47 R 40:59
4. Tim Meyer (GER) 2:27:26 S 26:20 B N/A R N/A
5. Per Van Vlerken (NED) 2:27:43 S 24:51 B 1:15:10 R 45:35