American Andy Potts led the men's field out of the water in 21:49 with his race-best swim. A tight pack exited the water a minute back, containing Jan Frodeno (DEU), defending champion Brent McMahon (CAN), Clayton Fettell (AUS), Terrenzo Bozzone (NZL), and Olympians Bevan Docherty (NZL) and Tim Don (GBR). As winner Frodeno said later of Potts' swim, "Andy was phenomenal in the water today. His pace was just shocking—I couldn't hold it."
Out onto the bike, Potts maintained his lead until mile 20, finally surrendering to American Andrew Yoder, who would go on to lead the race until the first mile of the run. Behind Yoder, a large group of over 20 men meant gaps would be at a minimum; just seconds separated the group of world-class Olympians and IRONMAN champions for the entirely of the bike. Minor shuffles in position saw Potts, McMahon, and Fettel take second behind Yoder, and by the end of the 56-mile bike ride, Belgian Marino Vanhoenacker had moved up to second. Unusually absent from the group was super-cyclist Sebastien Kienle, who also had difficulty nailing this course last year.
Yoder exited transition just a minute ahead of some of the fiercest runners in the sport. Behind him, his biggest worries, Gambles, McMahon, Bozzone, Potts, Don, and Docherty exited T2 together. The race would come down to the runners on one of the most difficult courses on the circuit.
The group overtook Yoder by mile one, with Don leading the charge. The Brit led through mile six, with defending champion McMahon storming up for the pass at mile seven. A mile later, it was clear the final few miles would feature a dramatic finish between new leader McMahon, Don (10 seconds back), and Frodeno at (one minute back).
As if burying any doubt over his dominance this year, Frodeno used his race-best run split of 1:09 to make up a minute on McMahon in the last 5km. He sailed through the final downhill miles with his long stride, making the pass less than a mile from the finish line and taking the win in a course-record time of 3:45:21. McMahon and Don fought until the very end, finishing 20 and 30 seconds behind Frodeno respectively.
"I'll be honest, that was probably the toughest thing I've ever done," said Frodeno. The German has already notched victories this year at IRONMAN 70.3 races in Auckland and Oceanside. "That bike course, I don't have words for it. I couldn't even hold my own," he said. Frodeno added that he was inspired by Braydon Nielsen, a triathlete who was struck by a vehicle while on a bike ride this past September. (Nielsen's tri club set up a foundation called Booyah!, who placed his white ghost bike in each transition.) "It sounds really cheesy but it got me through the day," Frodeno said.
Kessler grips St. George
San Francisco-based Meredith Kessler (USA) used her power across all three disciplines to show one of her favorite courses that she's still boss. Kessler led similarly strong swimmers Jodie Swallow (GBR), Julie Dibens (GBR) and Mary Beth Ellis (USA) out of the water, and the four stormed out of Sand Hollow Reservoir eager to duke it out on the roads. Behind them, Amy Marsh (USA) led a chase pack two minutes back.
With cycling powerhouse Dibens back in the mix after a few years off due to injury, the women's race was bound to be interesting. By mile 10, Dibens had overtaken Ellis and Swallow, taking second position behind Kessler. Heather Wurtele (CAN), who didn't come out of the water with the leaders, moved quickly to take her spot at the head of the chase pack. The four leaders maintained their position for the rest of the race, with Dibens and Swallow jockeying for second throughout. As Kessler would later say that the bike was much more technical this year, with the women having to jockey for position among each other and pro men. "It felt like you were riding in a video game, it was nutty," she said. "But we learn from these things."
Swallow and Dibens powered out of T2 as Kessler served a penalty. A minute back, the defending champion was back in the mix, with Ellis a minute behind her heading into the hot and hilly run. Wurtele, always a fighter, had her work cut out for her four minutes back.
With sixth place almost nine minutes back of Kessler out of T2, the women's run was far more spread out than the men's. Kessler used her third-best run (1:20) to storm back up to Swallow, and by mile five was running in her shadow. The pass came at mile six, a point at which the two had put three minutes on a fading Ellis and a determined Wurtele.
Over the final 5km, Kessler extended her lead on Swallow by about 20 seconds, securing her second U.S. Pro Championship finish in 4:11:53—almost six minutes faster than her time last year. Swallow took second in 4:12:29, with Wurtele picking up speed in the home lap to take third in 4:14:31.
"What I love about Jodie and Heather is that they're consistent all the time and that they really put up a fight every single race," Kessler said after the race. "Every race I go into I say 'this is the most stacked.' " Runner-up Swallow summed up the day with her post-race statement: "The standard of racing is just getting higher and higher, and the people just seem to be getting nicer and nicer! I'm just really proud to be in amongst it."
The race here continues to grow in numbers of world-class competitors, highlighting the kind of racing we can expect at the debut IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.
Men……………………Women
1.Jan Frodeno 3:45:21…..1.Meredith Kessler 4:11:53
2.Brent McMahon +0:22…..2.Jodie Swallow +0:35
3.Tim Don +0:29…..3.Heather Wurtele +2:38
4.Joe Gambles +1:39…..4.Mary Beth Ellis +4:18
5.Andy Potts +2:22…..5.Julie Dibens +12:32