France's Cyril Viennot and Great Britain's Tamsin Lewis become IRONMAN champions for the first time at the 10th Anniversary of IRONMAN UK in Bolton.
Redemption for Viennot
In January earlier this year, Cyril Viennot (FRA) was almost forced to walk away from the sport of triathlon altogether after a serious training accident threatened his career.
Determined to get redemption, Viennot crushed an 8:44:10 in Bolton to claim the 10th Anniversary IRONMAN UK.
"It was revenge because I had a big accident in January," Viennot said. "You know, I could’ve died in January. I had to stop training. This was the first year I was [full-time] professional triathlete, the year before I was working as a sport teacher. So I was very disappointed with this accident, so [this win] is kind of revenge."
It didn’t all go to plan for the Frenchman, as he exited the water in 10th place, 4:24 behind early race-leader Harry Wiltshire. Trailing Belgium's Axel Zeebroek by 5:18 at the 99-kilometre mark of the bike, Viennot launched an audacious comeback.
Winding up the big gear on the second lap of the bike, Viennot cut down Zeebroek’s lead to 1:43.
Sensing Viennot was chasing hard, Zeebroek put in a surge during the first half of the run, but it wasn't enough to hold off the Frenchman.
"I knew that I had to be patient. At the half-marathon [point] you know that isn’t done, so I was patient, I waited for my time and when I could take the lead, I took the lead of the race."
Viennot seized control of the race and by 24-kilometre mark his lead was 26 seconds. Knowing how tough this past six months has been, Viennot pushed the next 10 kilometres hard and his lead grew out to more than five minutes.
At the 37 kilometer mark, Viennot’s lead was 4:23 to Great Britain's Joe Skipper, who moved past Zeebroek and into second place. Crossing the finish line in 8:44:10, Viennot claimed his maiden IRONMAN title and signaled he is well and truly recovered and ready to aim for more success later in the year.
A big 2:48:12 marathon from Skipper saw him pull back 11 minutes on the run and leapfrog into second behind Viennot in 8:48:12. Rounding out the podium was Kirill Kostegarov (EST), who produced a 2:55:41 marathon to edge out Zeebroek for third place.
Lewis wins at home
Tamsin Lewis (GBR) became only the second woman to win an IRONMAN on debut in 2014, joining Australia’s Melissa Hauschildt after taking out the 10th Anniversary IRONMAN UK title in 9:52:12 today. After a run of bad luck this season that included sustaining a broken fork at IRONMAN 70.3 Mallorca, the sun shined on Lewis as she crossed the line for her the first major victory of her career.
Opening the day with the second-fastest swim, Lewis found herself with a 3:50 deficit to Katja Konschak (GER) as she left T1. Lewis ate a big chunk of Konschak’s lead within the first 25 kilometres of the bike, reducing the gap to just 1:17. Once Lewis grabbed the lead before the halfway mark of the first lap on the bike, she never let it go for the rest of the day.
Getting off the bike with a 14:13, Lewis just needed to survive the run to take home her first IRONMAN title. However, the Brit was unrelenting in her pursuit for victory. A 3:18:04 for her first-ever marathon in her first-ever IRONMAN was icing on a brilliant performance. Post-race, Lewis paid tribute to the spectators in Bolton, who drove her to finish off the second half of the marathon strong.
'I loved the spectators [in Bolton] they were amazing, I was nearly in tears,” Lewis said. “One of the reasons why I wanted to do this race was because I knew the crowds would be amazing."
After falling behind Joanna Carritt (GBR) on the bike, a race-best 3:14:34 marathon saw Konschak claim second place in 10:11:25.
Carritt held it together in final few kilometres to seal third place and her third podium finish at IRONMAN UK in four years.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Cyril Viennot FRA 8:44:10
2 Joe Skipper GBR 8:48:12
3 Krill Kotsegarov EST 8:51:01
4 Axel Zeebroek BEL 8:53:37
5 Joerie Vansteelant BEL 8:58:06
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Tasmin Lewis GBR 9:52:12
2 Katja Konschak GER 10:11:25
3 Joanna Carritt GBR 10:21:14
4 Amey Forshaw GBR 10:35:19
5 Laura Bostock GBR 12:36:42