Matt Trautman and Kimberley Morrison won the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Finland at Lahti.

Trautman overcame a 40 seconds deficit after the swim with a race-best 2:07:26 bike split and a 3rd-fastest 1:18:18 half marathon to finish in 3:54:35 with a 3:11 margin of victory over Manuel Küng of Switzerland and 4:07 over 3rd-place finisher Christian Kramer of Germany.

Trautman, a 33-year-old South African who is coached by Brett Sutton, took his second win of 2018 after a victory at Ironman 70.3 South Africa.

Morrison, a 30-year-old from North Norfolk, Great Britain, led wire-to-wire, combining a women’s-best 28:51 swim, a by-far women's-fastest 2:19:34 bike split and a women's 3rd-quickest 1:29:03 run to finish in 4:21:53 with a 4:57 margin of victory over Minna Koistinen of Finland and 10:37 over Camilla Lindholm Borg of Sweden.

Morrison’s win adds to her previous 2018 finishes – 6th at Dubai 70.3, 4th at Ironman 70.3 Texas, and 8th at Ironman Texas.

MEN

Manuel Küng of Switzerland led the pro men’s swim wave with a 24:19 split that gave him a 1 second lead on Martijn Dekker of Netherlands, 3 seconds on Panu Lieto of Finland, 33 seconds on Rudolf Naude of South Africa, 37 seconds on Clinton Gravett of South Africa, 40 seconds on Trautman, 41 seconds on Marino Vanhoenacker of Belgium, and 42 seconds on Christian Kramer of Germany. Trailing by 2:04 and 2:39 respectively were Johannes Moldan of Germany and Stefan Overmars of Netherlands.

Halfway through the bike leg, Küng led by 51 seconds on Trautman, 1:41 on Moldan, 2:25 on Vanhoenacker, 2:33 on Dekker, and 3 minutes on Kramer.

After a race-best 2:05:52 bike split, Moldan led at T2 by 2 seconds on Trautman, 21 seconds on Küng, 4:20 on Kramer, 4:58 on Vanhoenacker, 5:42 on Dekker, 8:39 on Overmars, and 9:11 on Darby Thomas. After finishing the bike leg, Vanhoenacker withdrew.

After 12km of the run, Trautman settled into a solid led - by 3:08 on Küng, 4:29 on Kramer, 8:13 on Dekker, 8:38 on Thomas, and 9:44 on Overmars.

After a 3rd-best 1:18:18 run, Trautman finished in 3:54:35 with a 3:11 margin of victory on Küng and 4:07 on 3rd-place finisher Kramer.

WOMEN

Morrison led the swim with a 28:51 split that gave her a 21 seconds lead on Molly Supple of Spain, 1:50 on Eloise Du Luart of France, 1:52 on Venla Koivula-Huttenen of Finland, 1:56 on Joanna Soltysiak of Poland, 2:05 on Minna Koistinen of Finland, 2:11 on Kelly O’Mara of the U.S., and 7:04 on slow-swimming, fast-running Camilla Lindholm Borg of Sweden.

Halfway through the 90km bike leg Morrison took firm control of the race, earning a 6:11 to 6:36 advantage on a pack of three - Koistinen, Soltysiak and Supple - and 7:39 on Du Luart.

After 8km of the run, Morrison solidified her reign on the pro women – 7:30 on Koistinen, 9:50 on Soltysiak and 15:10 on Lindholm Borg.

From there to the finish, Morrison relaxed her pace, crossing the line in 4:21:53 after a third-best 1:29:03 half marathon which gave her a 4:57 margin of victory on Koistinen (1:26:46 run) and 10:37 on 3rd place pro woman Lindholm Borg, who closed with a women’s-best 1:23:47 run.

Ironman 70.3 Finland
Lahti, Finland
June 30, 2018
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13 mi.

Results

Men

1. Matt Trautman (RSA) 3:54:35 S 24:59 T1 2:08 B 2:07:26 T2 1:41 R 1:18:18
2. Manuel Küng (SUI) 3:57:46 S 24:19 T1 2:15 B 2:07:57 T2 1:53 R 1:21:20
3. Christian Kramer (GER) 3:58:42 S 25:01 T1 2:29 B 2:11:24 T2 1:40 R 1:18:07
4. Darby Thomas (FIN) 4:03:34 S 31:09 T1 2:26 B 2:10:11 T2 1:39 R 1:18:08
5. Martijn Dekker (NED) 4:03:56 S 24:20 T1 2:12 B 2:13:33 T2 1:50 R 1:21:59
6. Stefan Overmars (NED) 4:05:00 S 26:58 T1 2:20 B 2:13:21 T2 2:13 R 1:20:06
7. Jarno Piik (FIN) 4:09:19 S 31:59 T1 2:16 B 2:13:22 T2 1:42 R 1:19:58
8. Joona Tuikka (FIN) 4:09:35 S 27:03 T1 2:25 B 2:15:53 T2 1:53 R 1:22:20
9. Ivo Suur (EST) 4:10:39 S 28:28 T1 3:13 B 2:19:32 T2 1:31 R 1:17:54

Women

1. Kimberley Morrison (GBR) 4:21:53 S 28:51 T1 2:25 B 2:19:34 T2 1:57 R 1:29:03
2. Minna Koistinen (FIN) 4:26:50 S 30:56 T1 2:39 B 2:24:50 T2 1:38 R 1:26:46
3. Camila Lindholm Borg (SWE) 4:32:30 S 35:55 T1 2:49 B 2:27:34 T2 2:23 R 1:23:47
4. Joanna Soltysiak (POL) 4:33:47 S 30:47 T1 2:28 B 2:26:57 T2 2:14 R 1:31:20
5. Eloise Du Luart (FRA) 4:42:14 S 30:41 T1 2:25 B 2:31:43 T2 2:22 R 1:35:01