Piampiano, Viennot prevail at Peru 70.3

Sarah Piampiano of the U.S. and Cyril Viennot of France won hard fought victories at Ironman 70.3 Peru.

Piampiano overcame a 3:29 deficit after the swim with women’s-fastest bike and run splits to finish in 4:15:08 with a 1:08 margin of victory over Kirsty Jahn of Canada and 5:52 over 3rd place finisher Kelsey Withrow of the U.S.

Hours after the race, Ironman officials declared that Kirsty Jahn and Pamela Tastets were disqualified and removed from the results. No reason was immediately announced for the DQs.

Viennot started his day with a 1:50 deficit to swim leader Andy Potts, and then arrived in T2 in a five man pack about a minute and a half after bike leader Felipe Van De Wyngard (no split available). Viennot closed with a race-best 1:14:33 half marathon to finish in 3:47:19 with a 30 seconds margin of victory over Andy Potts and 38 seconds over 3rd place finisher Mario de Elias of Argentina.

Women

Withrow led the women with a 24:56 swim split that gave her a 23 seconds lead on Romina Palacio of Argentina, 1:28 on Pamela Tastets of Chile, 1:30 on Sarah Cameto of the U.S., 1:36 on Jahn, and 2:49 on Emma-Kate Lidbury of Great Britain. Sarah Piampiano, a slow swimmer who has a fast bike and run needed to catch up, was 3:29 arrears.

After 18km of the bike leg, Withrow opened a 1:23 lead on Palacio and 2 minutes on Tastets and Piampiano. After 48km, Piampiano whittled her deficit to 53 seconds behind Withrow. Jahn was 3rd, 1:03 back, Palacio 4th 2:32 behind the leader. After a women’s second-fastest 2:21:43 bike split, Jahn arrived at T2 with Piampiano (women’s-best 2:19:59 split) just seconds behind. Withrow was 3rd, 1:51 down, with Palacio 4:37 back in 4th.

After 5km, Piampiano and John were running together at the front while Withrow faded to a 3:09 deficit and the rest of the women were more than 5 minutes arrears. After 16km of the run, Piampiano ground out a hard-won 18 seconds lead on Jahn.

After a women’s-best 1:23:14 run, Piampiano finished in 4:15:08 with a 1:08 margin of victory over Jahn (1:24:01 run) and 5:52 on 3rd-place finisher Withrow, who ran 1:26:46.

Hours after the race, Ironman officials announced that Jahn and Tastets were disqualified.

Men

Andy Potts led the swim with a 22:18 split which gave him a whisker advantage over Felipe Van De Wyngard of Chile, who was credited with an equal time. The pair had a 1:46 advantage on TJ Tollakson of the U.S. and Tim Rea of Australia, 1:47 on Chris Schroeder if the U.S., 1:50 on Viennot, 1:51 on Mario De Elias of Argentina and Raul Tejada of Guatemala, and 3:59 on Alan Carillo of Mexico.

Halfway through the 90km bike leg, Van De Wyngard opened a 3 minutes lead on a group of six including Tollakson, Tejada, Viennot, Potts, De Elias and Rea. After a 2:06:54 bike split, Van De Wyngard led the field off the bike with Potts, De Elias, Viennot, Rea and Tollakson 1 to 2 minutes behind. Precise gaps were not available as the timing at T2 was not available.

Halfway into the run, Viennot took over the lead by 13 seconds on Potts, 21 seconds on Tejada, and 1:15 to 1:38 on De Elias, Van de Wyngard and Rea. At 16km, Viennot led by 10 seconds on Potts, 1:30 on Tejada and 1:42 on De Elias.

After a race-best 1:14:33 half marathon, Viennot finished in 3:47:19, 30 seconds ahead of Potts (1:14:50 run) and 2:38 ahead of 3rd place finisher De Elias (1:17:18 run).

Ironman 70.3 Peru
Lima, Peru
April 22, 2018
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Women

1. Sarah Piampiano (USA) 4:15:08 S 28:25 T1 2:25 B 2:19:59 T2 1:06 R 1:23:14
2. Kelsey Withrow (USA) 4:21:00 S 24:56 T1 2:20 B 2:25:24 T2 1:37 R 1:26:46
3. Romina Palacio (ARG) 4:22:13 S 25:19 T1 2:05 B 2:28:01 T2 1:24 R 1:25:26
DQ Kirsty Jahn (CAN) 4:16:16 S 26:31 T1 2:33 B 2:21:43 T2 1:29 R 1:24:01
DQ Pamela Tastets (CHL) 4:29:45 S 26:23 T1 2:17 B 2:26:46 T2 1:23 R 1:32:57

Men

1. Cyril Viennot (FRA) 3:47:19 S 24:07 T1 2:09 B N/A T2 N/A R 1:14:33
2. Andy Potts (USA) 3:47:49 S 22:18 T1 1:56 B 2:07:38 T2 1:09 R 1:14:50
3. Mario de Elias (ARG) 3:49:57 S 24:08 T1 2:02 B N/A T2 N/A R 1:17:18
4. Tim Rea (AUS) 3:50:50 S 24:03 T1 2:08 B N/A T2 N/A R 1:17:59
5. Raul Tejada (GTM) 3:51:01 S 24:08 T1 2:09 B N/A T2 N/A R 1:18:36
6. Felipe Van de Wyngard (CHL) 3:57:06 S 22:18 T1 1:57 B 2:06:54 T2 00:37 R 1:25:22
7. Alan Carillo (MEX) 3:57:58 S 26:17 T1 1:59 B 2:08:06 T2 1:28 R 1:20:11