Joe Skipper of Great Britain and Teresa Adam of New Zealand each won Ironman New Zealand in their third attempts.
The record performances were aided by rare lack of wind on the undulating two lap bike course.
Men
Skipper predicted victory before the race and overcame a 6:16 deficit after the swim with a race-best 4:13:03 bike split that was within a minute of Andrew Starykowicz’s 2019 bike split record and within 11 seconds of today’s leading man Philipp Koutny of Switzerland. Skipper ran away from all contenders with a race-best 2:43:07 marathon that brought him to the line in 7:54:18 with a 7:10 margin of victory over defending champion Mike Phillips of New Zealand and 10:19 over fellow Kiwi Braden Currie, who duplicated his 3rd place finish last year. Phillips had no regrets over losing his crown, as he recently recovered from a herniated disk and was only able to do limited run training.
Swiss star Philipp Koutny led off the bike but his 2:56:02 marathon could not hold a place on the podium as he finished 4th, 2:27 behind Currie. New Zealander Dougal Allan closed with a 2:51:16 run split to take 5th place, 6:12 behind Koutny. 12-time Ironman New Zealand champion Cameron Brown finished 6th at age 47.
Skipper continued a hot streak he started in 2018 with a win at Ironman UK and a personal best 7:46:28 win at Ironman Florida in November. Skipper also made it known he will be a greater factor at Kona after a 7th place finish last year.
Women
Home country favorite Teresa Adam won wire-to-wire with a women’s-fastest swim, a record-crushing bike split that was 16 minutes better than her nearest rival, and a women’s 3rd-best run to finish in 8:40:30 with a 15:33 margin on 5-time Taupo winner Meredith Kessler of the U.S. and 22:52 quicker than 3rd place finisher Judith Corachan Vaquera of Spain. After two second place finishes, Adam smashed the race record set by Jocelyn McCauley of the U.S. last year by 12:40 and broke the bike record set by Lucy Gossage of Great Britain in 2016 by 15 minutes.
Defending champion Jocelyn McCauley withdrew after the bike leg due to illness and Radka Kahlefeldt of the Czech Republic withdrew after the swim.
Adam foreshadowed her Taupo breakthrough with a women’s race record 8:38:43 win at 2019 Ironman Western Australia where her women’s race-record bike split of 4:32:53 also led her way to victory.
Adam’s bike strength was on display last month when she won the New Zealand road cycling time trial and finished 3rd in the national road race.
Ironman New Zealand
Taupo, New Zealand
March 7, 2020
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Pro Men
1. Joe Skipper (GBR) 7:54:18 S 51:59 T1 4:07 B 4:13:03 T2 2:03 R 2:43:07
2. Mike Phillips (NZL) 8:01:28 S 47:38 T1 3:34 B 4:23:05 T2 1:47 R 2:45:25
3. Braden Currie (NZL) 8:04:37 S 47:38 T1 3:35 B 4:27:02 T2 1:48 R 2:44:36
4. Philipp Koutny (SUI) 8:07:04 S 51:50 T1 3:44 B 4:13:24 T2 2:05 R 2:56:02
5. Dougal Allan (NZL) 8:13:16 S 57:06 T1 4:07 B 4:18:48 T2 2:00 R 2:51:16
6. Cameron Brown (NZL) 8:14:36 S 51:46 T1 4:06 B 4:25:07 T2 2:23 R 2:51:16
7. Mark Bowstead (NZL) 8:16:13 S 47:41 T1 3:48 B 4:22:30 T2 2:21 R 2:59:54
8. Ben Phillips (NZL) 8:22:08 S 47:40 T1 3:35 B 4:31:21 T2 1:56 R 2:57:37
9. Mathias Lyngso Petersen (DEN) 8:27:47 S 47:35 T1 3:41 B 4:35:33 T2 1:59 R 2:58:59
10. Olly Shaw (NZL) 8:29:51 S 51:52 T1 3:48 B 4:37:57 T2 2:07 R 2:54:09
Pro Women
1. Teresa Adam (NZL) 8:40:30 S 50:26 T1 4:25 B 4:36:12 T2 4:10 R 3:05:19
2. Meredith Kessler (USA) 8:56:04 S 52:27 T1 4:07 B 4:52:42 T2 1:57 R 3:04:53
3. Judith Corachan Vaquera (ESP) 9:03:22 S 52:39 T1 4:06 B 5:00:04 T2 1:51 R 3:04:44
4. Rachel McBride (CAN) 9:10:07 S 52:38 T1 3:59 B 4:55:53 T2 2:09 R 3:15:29
5. Julia Grant (NZL) 9:35:25 S 1:02:11 T1 4:33 B 5:05:31 T2 1:46 R 3:21:26
6. Lisa Roberts (USA) 9:36:03 S 1:04:52 T1 4:37 B 5:10:45 T2 2:09 R 3:13:41
7. Federica DE Nicola (ITA) 9:42:34 S 1:03:52 T1 4:58 B 5:11:08 T2 2:40 R 3:19:58
8. Alyssa Godesky (USA) 9:53:34 S 1:02:06 T1 4:35 B 5:10:03 T2 3:06 R 3:33:45
9. Melanie Burke (NZL) 9:57:40 S 1:09:43 T1 5:11 B 5:01:22 T2 2:09 R 3:39:16
10. Kelsey Withrow (USA) 10:22:24 S 52:39 T1 4:18 B 5:21:12 T2 4:27 R 3:59:49
