Rodolphe Von Berg combined a race-best 50:10 swim, a second-best 4:38:12 bike split and a 4th -fastest 2:48:33 marathon to finish in 8:24:26 with a 3:16 margin over William Mennesson of France and 10:39 over third-place Arthur Horseau of France at Ironman Nice.
Von Berg shared the victory - in his first full length Ironman - with his coach, the hall of famer Luc Van Lierde, who won this race a quarter century ago.
Men’s race recap
Von Berg opened strong with a race-best 50:10 swim which gave him a 2:08 edge on Zoltan Petsuk Netherlands and 2:12 TO 2:17 over a tight pack that included a French trio - Theo Charred William Mennesson and Arthur Horseau – and Jaroslav Kovacic of Slovenia.
On the traditionally challenging hills of the bike course, Mennesson grabbed a 1:08 lead on Von Berg with a race-best 4:36:32 bike split, leaving top challenger Matteo Fontana of Italy, Arthur Horseau of France and Thomas Navarro of France 16 to 20 minutes arrears.
Von Berg gained control of the race with a second-fastest 2:48:33 run split, which gave him a 3:16 margin on Mennesson and 10:39 on Horseau, who posted the men’s race-best 2:43:19 split - and 20 minutes on Jaroslav Kovacic of Slovenia, whose 2:48:18 half marathon was second best.
Women’s race recap
Battling a much smaller women’s field, Svenja Thoes of Germany put together a wire-to-wire victory including a women’s-fastest 57:49 swim, a women’s-best 5:12:21 bike split and a dominant 3:01:34 marathon to finish in 9:18:48 with a 23:29 margin over Alexandra Tondeur of Belgium and a 26:26 on third-place finisher Gabriella Zelinka of Hungary.
Ironman Nice
Nice, France
June 26, 2022
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Men
1. Rodolphe Von Berg (USA) S 50:10 T1 5:00 B 4:38:12 T2 2:33 R 2:48:33 TOT 8:24:26
2. William Mennesson (FRA) S 52:23 T1 3:18 B 4:36:32 T2 3:17 R 2:52:14 TOT 8:27:42
3. Arthur Horseau (FRA) S 52:25 T1 5:00 B 4:51:33 T2 2:51 R 2:43:18 TOT 8:35:06
4. Thomas Navarro (FRA) S 56:35 T1 3:42 B 4:52:30 T2 2:26 R 2:46:52 TOT 8:42:05
5. Jaroslav Kovacic (SLO) S 52:28 T1 5:00 B 4:55:28 t2 3:05 R 2:48:31 TOT 8:44:31
6. Lukas Kramer (GER) S 56:32 T1 3:23 B 4:57:30 T2 2:49 R 2:48:39 TOT 8:48:50
7. Matteo Fontana (ITA) S 56:46 T1 4:44 B 4:47:25 T2 2:52 R 3:01:54 TOT 8:53:40
8. Lucas Duross (NZL) S 56:34 T1 4:02 B 5:10:14 T2 3:36 R 2:54:11 TOT 9:08:35
9. Jesper Nybo Riis (DEN) S 1:01:44 T1 3:21 B 5:10:52 T2 3:23 R 2:51:33 TOT 9:10:50
10. Timothy Van Houtem (FRA) S 1:00:18 T1 4:19 B 4:55:50 T2 4:08 R 3:06:37 TOT 9:11:11
Women
1. Svenja Thoes (GER) S 57:49 T1 4:07 B 5:12:21 T2 2:59 R 3:01:34 TOT 9:18:48
2. Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) S 57:56 T1 4:03 B 5:27:36 T2 8:53 R 3:05:50 TOT 9:42:17
3. Gabrielle Zelinka (HUN) S 57:52 T1 4:06 B 5:33:35 T2 3:24 R 3:06:20 TOT 9:45:15
4. Federica de Nicola (ITA) S 57:52 T1 4:09 B 5:27:27 T2 3:26 R 3:22:36 TOT 9:55:27
5. Mirella Karlsson (SWE) S 1:01:30 T1 4:49 B 5:56:52 T2 6:50 R 3:29:50 TOT 10:39:50
6. Vanessa Pereira (POR) S 1:03:29 T1 5:16 B 6:07:17 T2 4:33 R 4:13:04 TOT 11:33:37
