Rodolphe Von Berg of the U.S. and Pamella Oliveira of Brazil won the Ironman 70.3 South America Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Von Berg emerged from a tight 3-man battle on the bike leg with a dominating 1:13:20 half marathon to finish in 3:46:16 with a 4:19 margin of victory over Reinaldo Colucci of Brazil and 5:30 over 3rd place finisher Santiago Ascenco of Brazil.
At the end of a race-long battle with Lauren Goss of the U.S., Oliveira managed to prevail by a hard-won 40 seconds margin – thanks to a 36 seconds advantage on the run.
Men
Von Berg led the swim with a 23:25 split which gave him a 3 seconds lead on Fernando Toldi of Brazil, 5 seconds on Colucci, 9 seconds on Paul Matthews of Australia, 11 seconds on Santiago Ascenco of Brazil, 13 seconds on Paulo Da Silva of Brazil, 33 seconds on Kevin Collington of the U.S,. 1:18 on Jackson Laundry of Canada and 1:29 on Alex Libin of the U.S.
Halfway through the 90-kilometer bike leg, Ascenco led a 4-man breakaway by 2 seconds on Von Berg, 4 seconds on Colucci and 7 seconds on Matthews with Toldi trailing by 1:33, Laundry by 2:40 and Collington by 3:46.
After a men’s second-best 2:04:53 bike split, Ascenco led the field into T2 by 1 second on Von Berg (race-best 2:04:52 split), 3 seconds on Colucci, 1:59 on Matthews, 3:14 on Laundry, 7:57 on Johannes Moldan and 8:01 on Libin. Early contenders fell off near the end of the rude as Collington trailed by 8:15 and Toldi by 9:46.
In the first 7 kilometers of the run, Von Berg and Colucci broke out front by 1:02 on Ascenco, 4:15 on Laundry and 6:14 on Matthews. By the 9.6 kilometer mark, Von Berg broke away on a solo run to the lead – by 33 seconds on Colucci, 1:45 on Ascenco and 4:50 on Laundry.
After a race-best 1:13:20 half marathon, Von Berg finished in 3:46:16 with a 4:19 margin over Colucci (1:17:38 run split) and 5:30 over Ascenco (1:18:53 run). On the wings of a second-best 1:15:52 run, Laundry took 4th place.
Women
Oliveira led the pro women’s swim wave with a 24:48 split that gave her an 8 seconds lead on Goss, setting the stage for a race-long battle. Next in line were Romina Palacio of Argentina (+33s), Lindsey Jerdonek of the U.S. (+34s), Laura Matthews of the U.S. (+3:22) and Cecilia Davis-Hayes of the U.S. (+5:55).
Halfway through the 90-kilometer bike leg, Oliveira and Goss broke out to a 1:42 lead on Palacio, 2:50 on Jerdonek and 5:23 on Davis-Hayes. After a women’s 2nd-best 2:22:52 bike split, Goss led into T2 by 6 seconds on Oliveira, 3:44 on Jerdonek, 4:48 on Davis-Hayes and 5:07 on Palacio.
Gradually but inexorably, Oliveira pulled away from Goss with a women’s second-best 1:26:15 half marathon to finish in 4:19:37 with a 36 seconds margin over Goss (1:26:51 run) and 1:10 on 3rd place finisher Jerdonek, who closed considerably with a women’s-best 1:23:33 run split that brought her within 1:10 of the winner and 30 seconds of Goss.
Ironman 70.3 South America Championship
Buenos Aires, Argentina
November 4, 2018
S 1.2 mi. / N 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Rodolphe Von Berg (USA) 3:46:16 S 23:25 T1 2:40 B 2:04:52 T2 2:01 R 1:13:20
2. Reinaldo Colucci (BRA) 3:50:35 S 23:29 T1 2:27 B 2:05:03 T2 2:00 R 1:17:38
3. Santiago Ascenco (BRA) 3:51:46 S 23:36 T1 2:29 B 2:04:53 T2 1:59 R 1:18:53
4. Jackson Laundry (CAN) 3:52:12 S 24:46 T1 2:41 B 2:06:43 T2 2:12 R 1:15:52
5. Alex Libin (USA) 3:55:09 S 24:53 T1 2:45 B 2:11:20 T2 2:14 R1:14:00
6. Mario De Elias (ARG) 3:56:38
7. Kevin Collington (USA) 3:58:11
Women
1. Pamella Oliveira (BRA) 4:19:37 S 24:28 T1 3:09 B 2:23:01 T2 2:26 R 1:26:15
2. Lauren Goss (USA) 4:20:17 S 24:55 T1 3:02 B 2:22:55 T2 2:35 R 1:26:51
3. Lindsey Jerdonek (USA) 4:20:47 S 25:21 T1 2:37 B 2:26:38 T2 2:40 R 1:23:33
4. Romina Palacio (ARG) 4:25:38 S 25:20 T1 2:46 B 2:27:54 T2 2:39 R 1:27:02
5. Cecilia Davis-Hayes (USA) 4:28:27 S 30:43 T1 3:05 B 2:21:52 T2 2:58 R 1:29:51
