Michael Weiss started off with a 28:57 swim that gave up 3:13 to Llanos and 2:05 to Vanhoenacker. Weiss posted a second-best 2:10:54 bike split and second-best 1:09:20 run that left him in 3rd place, 1:54 behind Llanos and precisely 1 minute behind Vanhoenacker.

Hütthaler started her day with the 9th-best 29:31 swim, within range of her strongest rivals -- 1:46 behind swim leader Gina Crawford of New Zealand, 49 seconds behind Svenja Bazlen of Germany and 1 second behind newcomer Kaisa Lehtonen of Finland. By 60 kilometers of the bike leg, Hütthaler seized a 41 seconds lead on Crawford, 1:08 on Bazlen and 3:33 on Lehtonen. Hütthaler’s race-best 2:25:46 split for the 90 kilometer bike leg left her in command starting the run.

Lehtonen’s race-fastest 1:16:15 half marathon took back 1:34 from Hütthaler’s 2nd-best 1:17:49 split, but the Austrian finished in 4:17:20 with a 3:38 margin of victory to repeat as St. Polten 70.3 champion. Bazlen, who ran 1:19:48, took 3rd place, 53 seconds behind runner-up Lehtonen and 2:15 ahead of Crawford, who placed 4th.

The win was the second in a row for Hütthaler, who won Mallorca 70.3 two weeks ago.

Ironman 70.3 St. Polten
St. Pölten, Austria
May 25, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Eneko Llanos (ESP) 3:51:51
2. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 3:52:45
3. Michael Weiss (AUT) 3:53:45
4. Daniel Halksworth (GBR) 3:54:45
5. Paul Reitmayr (AUT) 3:55:23

Women

1. Lisa Hütthaler (AUT) 4:17:20
2. Kaisa Lehtonen (FIN) 4:20:58
3. Svenja Bazlen (GER) 4:21:51
4. Gina Crawford (NZL) 4:24:06
5. Astrid Ganzow (GER) 4:26:20

Igor Amorelli and Sara Gross win Ironman Brazil

Igor Amorelli became the first Brazilian to win his home country Ironman and Sara Gross of Canada broke 9 hours to win the women’s title at Florianopolis.

Amorelli combined a race-fastest 47:38 swim, a 2nd-best 4:26:06 bike leg and a race-fastest 2:52:07 marathon to finish in 8:07:54 with a 3:52 margin of victory over the runner-up, fellow Brazilian Santiago Ascenco and 8:22 over 3rd-place finisher Marcel Zamora of Spain.

Ascenco’s race-best 4:20:44 bike split came within 46 seconds of Amorelli at T2, but his 2:55:43 run left him short of the win.

Lucie Zelenkova of the Czech Republic took the lead with a race-best 51:04 swim that gave her a 4:10 lead on Vanessa Paolieri of Brazil, 4:37 on Gross, 5:22 on Ana Lidia Borba of Brazil and 5:37 on Sofie Goos of Belgium. After a super swift bike leg in which 5 women broke 4 hours 50 minutes, Borba (4:50:07 bike split) was first to T2 with a 19 seconds lead on Gross (4:49:42) 35 seconds on Goos (4:49:24), 1:21 on Mariana Borges de Andrade (4:46:59) and 5:25 on Jessie Donavan (4:46:38 split). Ariane Monteceli’s 4:55:21 split left her 9:46 out of the lead and Zelenkova’s 4:55:59 bike split – which included a penalty -- left her 11:42 in arrears.

Gross then unleashed a 3rd-fastest 3:06:12 marathon which brought her to the finish in 8:56:35 with a 3:46 margin of victory over runner-up Sofie Goos and 6:09 over Monticeli, whose race-best 3:02:53 run advanced her from 7th at T2 to 3rd at the finish.

Gross thus improved one position on her 2nd place finish to Amanda Stevens last year at Florianopolis and 5 places better than her 6th place finish at St. Croix 70.3 three weeks ago. Her 8:56:35 time was the 58th fastest of 90 women who have broken 9 hours at the Ironman distance.

According to unofficial results, 30-34 age grouper Guillermina Sorrentino of Argentina finished in 9:13:15 which was the fastest overall women’s amateur time and was 5th overall woman including the pros, pending review of the timing process.

Ironman Brazil
Florianopolis, Brazil
May 25, 2014
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Igor Amorelli (BRA) 8:07:54
2. Santiago Ascenco (BRA) 8:11:46
3. Marcel Zamora (ESP) 8:16:16
4. Harry Wiltshire (GBR) 8:32:34
5. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:33:16
6. AJ Baucco (USA) 8:34:06

Women

1. Sara Gross (CAN) 8:56:35
2. Sofie Goos (BEL) 9:00:21
3. Ariane Monticeli (BRA) 9:02:44
4. Lisa Ribes Roberts (USA) 9:07:42
5. Jessie Donavan (USA) 9:14:40

Ukrainians exercise home rule at the ETU Sprint Triathlon European Cup in Ukraine

On a day of relative peace following weeks of political uncertainty after the Russian annexation of Crimea and demonstrations in Eastern Ukraine for and against secession to Russia, home country Ukrainian triathletes ruled the ETU Sprint Triathlon European Cup in Dnepropetrovsk.

For Yulia Yelistratova and Yegor Martynenko, winners of eight European Cups between them, this was one of their proudest moments as they claimed victory on home soil in the first ever European Cup race in Ukraine.

In the men’s race, Ukrainians went 1-2-3 as Yegor Martynenko combined a tied-for-2nd-fastest 9:32 swim, a 2nd-fastest 26:33 bike split and 8th-best 15:33 run to finish in 52:30 with a 56 seconds margin over the Sergiy Kokhan and 1:03 over 3rd-place Danylo Sapunov.

In the women’s contest, popular Ukrainian ITU veteran Yuliva Yelistratova finished in 1:00:50 with a 21 seconds margin over runner-up Mateia Simic of Slovenia and 47 seconds over 3rd-place finisher and fellow Ukrainian Oleksandra Stepanenko.

After the race, runner-up Simic paid tribute to the host country: “I know it is not an easy moment for the Ukrainian people,” said the Slovenian. “That’s why, for me, it was really important to be here. I found really friendly and kind people and a really good organization. So really thanks to Ukrainian people, to the organizers, to the Ukrainian Federation and to ETU. I will remember this experience for all of my life and that's the beauty of sport.”

Dnepropetrovsk ETU Sprint Triathlon European Cup
Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine
May 24, 2014
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k

Results

Men

1. Yegor Martynenko (UKR) 52:30
2. Sergiy Kokhan (UKR) 53:26
3. Danylo Sapunov (UKR) 53:33
4. Alexandre Nobre (POR) 53:39
5. Tomas Svoboda (CZE) 53:40

Women

1. Yulia Yelistratova (UKR) 1:00:50
2. Mateja Simic (SLO) 1:01:11
3. Oleksandra Stepanenko (UKR) 1:01:37
4. Inna Ryzhykh (UKR) 1:01:51
5. Anna Abdulova (UKR) 1:02:26

A tale of two XTERRAS

Sam Gardner of Great Britain and Karyn Southgate of South Africa won the inaugural XTERRA Mauritius titles and reigning XTERRA World Champion Ruben Ruzafa of Spain and Helena Erbenova of the Czech Republic won the men’s and women’s crowns at XTERRA Spain.

XTERRA Mauritius

The race began with several expert relay swimmers taking the lead in a lake high over the famed Bois Cherie tea plantation on this island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of Africa. XTERRA regulars Sam Gardner and former XTERRA World champion Nico Lebrun began passing the relay teams on the two-lap bike course made of fire roads mixed with grassy trails made muddy and slick by recent rains.

“Nico and I set about picking off the relay teams and by the end of lap one, we were riding neck and neck with the lead team,” said Gardner. “I got a bit sideways on some mud on one of the fast descents and ended up in a banana tree. As we started lap two, I started picking some better lines and Nico faded slightly.” That left Gardner with a minute lead starting the run. “That wouldn’t have held up against the former world champion a few years ago, but since his retirement from full time racing last year, it was enough,” said Gardner.

The two lap run course through a deer park had premium XTERRA challenges throughout, including a slippery, narrow muddy descent through a stream, steep hills and a climb up and down a wooden ladder. Gardner finished in 2:37:33 with a 5:20 margin of victory over Lebrun and 7:09 over 3rd place finisher Yannick Desfarges.

Karyn Southgate of South Africa was the only listed woman finisher, completing the rugged course in 3:29:48.

XTERRA Mauritius
Black River Gorges National Park, Mauritius
May 25, 2014
S 1.5k / B 34k / TR 10k

Men

1. Sam Gardner (GBR) 2:37:33
2. Nico Lebrun (FRA) 2:42:53
3. Yannick Desfarges (Reunion) 2:44:42

Women

1. Karyn Southgate (RSA) 3:29:48

XTERRA Spain

While everyone expected a victory by home country star and reigning XTERRA World Champion Ruben Ruzafa of Spain, the competitive story was the stellar performance by first year XTERRA pro Albert Soley. Stoley was the first age group finisher at this race last year and got his pro card for 2014.

The race was a story of frantic adaptation as local officials ruled that the planned swim in placid, glassy, no-surf conditions was too dangerous. So XTERRA officials substituted a steep uphill-and-back 4.5 kilometer run.

Soley came off the first run in 3rd, then caught and passed Ruzafa, a former pro mountain biker, on the rugged course and arrived in T2 in first place, followed by Ruzafa, fellow Spaniard Xavier Jové and then Jan Pyott of Switzerland.

At this point, according to XTERRA official Dave Nicholas, chaos reigned for the rest of the field. “Just after the first three men went past, a marshal started sending people the wrong way up a steep hike-a-bike hill,” reported Nicholas. “Pyott recognized quickly that this was wrong and turned around. Roger Serrano went all the way up the climb only to find a 6 meter drop and realized the mistake. He came down and warned others it was the wrong way but it was too late. The field was shattered with as many as half being sent the wrong way.” To make matters worse, a local man removed some XTERRA course tape and moved a blue direction arrow and sent more racers the wrong way at a second location.

Oblivious of the chaos behind, Ruzafa retook control of the race on the run, finishing first in 2:37:32 with a 2:16 margin over runner-up Soley and 2:29 over Jové.

Women’s winner Helena Erbenova was not fooled by the course marking shenanigans and finished in a highly respectable 2:59:51. But the rest of the elite women’s field was scrambled beyond normal accounting. After the race, XTERRA’s Nicholas gathered the women together to attempt a settlement. “I know full well that missing or cutting the course is cause for a DQ,” said Nicholas. “But in this case all but one woman would have been DQ’d and it was my decision to get everyone together and try to get a 100 percent consensus on the finish order. To the great credit of the elite women, they all agreed and the results were confirmed.”

XTERRA Spain
La Manga Resort, Cartegna, Spain
May 24, 2014

Results

Men

1. Ruben Ruzafa (ESP) 2:37:32
2. Albert Soley Castells (ESP) 2:39:48
3. Xavier Jové (ESP) 2:40:01
4. Jan Pyott (SUI) 2:46:49
5. Rich Sumpter (GBR) 3:01:48
6. Will Kelsay (USA) 3:02:17

Women

1. Helena Erbenova (CZE) 2:59:51
2. Katrin Mueller (GER) No time
3. Maud Golsteyn (NED) No time
4. Jacqui Slack (GBR) No time
5. Coralie Redelsperger (FRA) No time

Gwen Jorgensen and Mario Mola win French GP of Clubs in Dunkerque

World Triathlon Series stars Gwen Jorgensen of the United States and Mario Mola of Spain won the individual titles at the first round of the sprint distance French Federation of Triathlon Grand Prix of Clubs in Dunkerque.

On the strength of her race-best 17:06 5k run, Jorgensen finished in 1:01:07 with an 18 seconds margin of victory over the runner-up, Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand, and 28 seconds over 3rd-place finisher Sarah Groff of the U.S.

Jorgensen thus led her French club, Tri Val de Gray, to the women’s club victory over the runner-up club, Issy Triathlon, led by Sarah Groff.

In the men’s contest, Anthony Pujades of France led the swim in 8:31, followed by Joao Silva of Portugal and Frederic Belaubre of France. On the bike, a 10-man pack including Mola, Belaubre, Francesc Godoy of Spain, Pujades, Aaron Royle of Australia, and Joao Silva of Portugal broke away by 30 seconds from a 40-man chase pack.

Pujades left T2 first, but Mola, who finished 2nd at the recent WTS event in Yokohama, rocketed past and hit the finish first in 54:09 with a 27 seconds margin of victory over the runner-up, Silva, and 32 seconds ahead of Pujades, who finished 3rd.

Led by Silva, Les Sables Vendee Triathlon won the club competition, followed by Mola’s EC Sartrouville.