We Noticed: Para Triathlete Medals in Milano Cortina, LA Marathon Close Finish, Half-Marathon World Record and More
As the Paralympics get rolling in Milano Cortina there are a number of Para triathletes on hand to, as Olalla Cernuda Castro from World Triathlon put it: “display (their) versatility” and transition “from the blue carpet to the snow slopes of the alps.” On the weekend American Kendall Gretsch, the Tokyo Paralympic gold medalist, became a seven-time Winter Paralympic medalist after winning the bronze medal in the Sitting Biathlon competition. Australia’s Lauren Parker also took part in the biathlon, finishing ninth. Parker won gold at the Paris Paralympics after winning silver in Tokyo (Gretsch won gold by 0.01 – see below as to why that seems ironic – in a dramatic sprint to the finish). In addition to winning the hand cycle division in Kona in 2022, Parker has won 11 Para triathlon world titles, and won two medals in Para cycling in Paris, too.
Japan’s Keiichi Sato also competed in the Biathlon – he finished 18th in the standing event.
Other Para triathletes in Milano Cortina include American Joshua Sweeney, who is competing in Nordic Skiing, Italy’s Giuseppe Romele, who will compete in the 10 and 20 km cross-country sitting events (he won a bronze medal in Beijing four years ago), and Austrian Oliver Dreier, who takes on the slalom and snowboard cross races.
LA Marathon Close Finish
We’ll have more on the LA Marathon for you in another story, but we did want to point out the incredible finish in the men’s race – the closest in the race’s history.
American Nathan Martin won the race after catching Kenya’s Michael Kamau at the line, taking the race in 2:11:16.50, a whole 0.01 in front.
Kenya’s Priscah Cherono won the women’s race in 2:25:18.31 and took the “Marathon Chase” $10,000 bonus – the women were sent off 15:45 ahead of the men.
Kiplomo Sets Half-Marathon World Record
Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo won the Lisbon Half Marathon in 57:20 on the weekend, reclaiming the world record by taking 10 seconds off of Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha’s time set in Valencia two years ago. The word is that Kiplimo managed to set the record without any pacemakers – he went through 5 km in 13:28 and 10 km in 27:00 alongside Kenyans Nicholas Kipkorir and Gilbert Kiprotich, then blasted away to set the new record.
Kipkorir would hang on for second in 58:08, with Kiprotich rounding out the podium in 58:59.
Kiplimo set the half-marathon record for the first time in 2021 in Lisbon as well, running 57:31.
Pallant-Browne Returns to Racing
Since we’re on a half-marathon roll, it seems all-too-appropriate to celebrate Emma Pallant-Browne’s return to racing after giving birth to Lachlan Jonty (with partner Jaryd Browne) last August. The Brit, who is a three-time world duathlon champ, proved once again that she’s amongst the best runners in the sport in her comeback race at the Paris Half Marathon. After blazing through the fist 10 km in 33:00, Pallant-Browne hung tough for a 1:12:37 finish, enough for seventh in the competitive race that was won by Ethiopia’s Ftaw Zeray in 1:05:12.
IRONMAN 70.3 Races in South America
While most of us were engrossed in the racing at IRONMAN New Zealand this weekend (you can read our men’s recap here and the women’s recap here), there were a couple of 70.3 races taking place in South America. IRONMAN 70.3 Punta del Este in Uruguay saw Federico Scarabino take the win in his home country in 3:48:47 (thanks to the day’s fastest bike and run splits) ahead of France’s Casimir Moine (3:52:09) and Argentina’s Flavio Morandini (4:27:14). In the women’s race, Argentina’s Romina Palacio Balena led from start to finish to win in 4:34:57, while Brazil’s Bruna Stolf (4:41:30) took second and American Olivia Dietzel (4:54:04) finished third. There were only three pro finishers in both the men’s and women’s races.
At IRONMAN 70.3 Curitiba in Brazil it was Pamella Oliveira who topped the women’s podium in 4:31:28 (thanks to the day’s fastest swim, bike and run splits) ahead of countrywomen Pietra Piccolo Meneghini (4:40:22) and Giovanna Alves Opipari (4:48:41). The men’s race also featured an all-Brazil podium as Fernando Toldi ran to the win in 3:53:05, pulling ahead of 40-year-old Reinaldo Colucci (3:55:28) and Enzo Krauss (3:57:50) during the final leg of the race.
Hell of the West Results
The Hell of the West triathlon is one of Australia’s longest-running events, having started in 1989. The event takes place in Goondiwindi, Queensland and is renowned as living up to its name as an extremely tough race. Both the men’s and women’s podiums were all-Australia affairs.
Sophie Malowiecki (3:54:32) took the women’s race after posting the day’s fastest swim and run splits ahead of Jasmine Brown (4:00:25) and Chloe Hartnett (4:02:08). Kieran Storch won the men’s race in 3:26:24 thanks to the day’s fastest bike and run splits, while Nicholas Free (3:33:59) and Joe Spriggs (3:35:31) took second and third.
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What happened at LA marathon. Leader went off course for 20 seconds, a dead stop cost time, thus the faint at the finish
Yet ANOTHER misdirection!!! WTF is going on!!!
Granted the woman with the flag (and the one in pink following her) shouldve NEVER been on the course, but c’mon!!!
Ya, that’s a real bummer. Must really add insult to injury for him. I’m almost ok with it because it did seem to factor in to being run down by that this Nathan Martin, who it turns out is a high school track and XC coach. How cool is that?
james_teagle
(Since we’re on triathletes running stand alone half marathons)