Nicola Spirig of Switzerland and Casper Stornes of Norway took top honors at Ironman 70.3 Nice.
Spirig, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist and the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, won in wire-to-wire fashion, finishing in 4:36:54 with a 3:26 margin over Lena Berlinger of Germany and 4:23 over 3rd place India Lee of Great Britain.
Stornes combined the second-best swim, and race best bike and run splits to finish in 4:00:25 with a 7:04 margin over Dylan Magnien of France and 7:23 over Adam Bowden of Great Britain. Stornes, who took his first big win at the 2018 edition of WTS Bermuda and followed that with a 2nd at the 2019 Olympic Preview at Tokyo and seconds at the 2018 and 2019 editions of the Middle East Championship in Bahrain, has added another feather in his cap with this victory over a tough bike course at the classic Nice venue.
Pro women
Spirig led the swim with a 27:08 split in the blue Mediterranean sea that gave her a 22 seconds lead over India Lee of Great Britain, 24 seconds over Chloe Lane of Australia, 32 seconds over Leana Bissig of Germany, 41 seconds over Emma Bilham of Switzerland and 1:50 over Lena Berlinger of Germany.
After a women’s-fastest 2:44:38 bike split, a notable mark on the steep and curvy mountains overlooking Nice, Spirig owned a 2:48 lead on Berlinger, 4:40 on Jeanne Collonge of France, and 6:51 over Emma Bilham of Switzerland, and 7:34e4 on Ruth Astle.
After a third-fastest 1:19:07 run split on the flat seafront course, Spirig finished in 4:36:54 with a 3:26 lead on Berlinger (1:19:27 run split), 4:23 on India Lee, 8:48 on Jeanne Collonge, and 8:59 over Laura Jansen of Germany.
Pro Men
Sven Oliver Thalmann of Germany led the men’s swim wave with a 23:13 split which gave him a 10 seconds lead on Stornes, 1:10 over Maximilian Sperl 1:13 on Maxine Chane, 1:19 on Adam Bowden of Great Britain, 3:39 on Dylan Magnien of France and 3:57 on William Mennesson of France.
After a race-best 2:24:21 bike split, Stornes opened a big lead - 4:07 over William Mennesson, 4:12 over Magnien, 7:23 over Adam Bowden, 5:29 over Maximilian Sperl and 5:349 over Theo Debard of France.
If anyone thought the door was open, Stornes shut it decisively as he finished with a race-best 1:06:03 half marathon, which brought him to the line with a 7:04 margin on Magnien and 7:23 on 3rd place Bowden.
Ironman 70.3 Nice
Nice, France
September 12, 2021
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Pro men
1. Casper Stornes (NOR) S 23:23 T1 3:00 B 2:24:21 T2 3:39 R 1:06:03 TOT 4:00:25
2. Dylan Magnien (FRA) S 26:52 T1 3:03 B 2:25:01 T2 3:09 R 1:09:26 TOT 4:07:26
3. Adam Bowden (GBR) S 24:31 T1 3:00 B 2:30:49 T2 3:12 R 1:06:17 TOT 4:07:48
4. William Mennesson (FRA) S 27:10 T1 2:47 B 2:24:55 T2 3:20 R 1:10:11 TOT 4:08:21
5. Theo Debard (FRA) S 28:41 T1 2:49 B 2:25:03 T2 3:09 R 1:09:49 TOT 4:09:30
Pro Women
1. Nicola Spirig (SUI) S 27:08 T1 2:48 B 2:44:38 T2 3:16 R 1:19:07 TOT 4:36:54
2. Lena Berlinger (GER) S 28:58 T1 2:58 B 2:45:26 T2 3:33 R 1:19:27 TOT 4:40:20
3. India Lee (GBR) S 27:30 T1 3:03 B 2:19:46 T2 N/A R N/A TOT 4:41:17
4. Jeanne Collonge (FRA) S 30:00 T1 3:42 B 2:45:33 T2 3:30 R 1:23:01 TOT 4:45:43
5. Laura Jansen (GER) S 31:05 T1 3:19 B 2:49:30 T2 3:354 R 1:18:29 TOT 4:45:54
