In the eighth edition of IRONMAN 70.3 Austria a British duo set the pace early in the water: Mark Threlfall and Daniel Halksworth led the men’s field in front of a group of twelve including favorites like reigning IRONMAN European champion Llanos.Threlfall exited the water in 25:18, four seconds ahead of his countryman Halksworth. In third place, Alberto Cassadei was nine seconds behind and leading the chase group into T1.
While the top group set the pace on the bike, seven-time IRONMAN Austria champion Marino Vanhoenacker made up a lot of time on the twelve riders. The man with the world's best IRONMAN time lost 1:34 minutes in the water, but with about 40 kilometers to go the Belgian took the lead. Within 20 more km Vanhoenacker was more than a minute ahead of Swiss Mathias Hecht and Llanos. Vanhoenacker reached T2 with a brilliant 2:08:24 bike split and an advantage of 3:42 on the group, which was led into transition by Christian Kramer from Germany. Llanos started into the run in third. By halfway through the run he had shaved the gap to 1:56. With five kilometers to go he was only 33 seconds behind the Belgian leader. Thanks to a speedy last three kilometers the Spaniard took the crown in 3:51:51. Llanos had the best run split of the day in 1:08:58. Vanhoenacker took silver in 3:52:45 ahead Austrian Michael Weiss, who made it to the podium in 3:53:45 thanks to the second-best run (1:09:21).
Austria wasn't only celebrating third in the men's race, but also a great show by two-time champion Lisa Hütthaler. After winning IRONMAN 70.3 Mallorca two weeks ago, Hütthaler added another fabulous day to her career winning in 4:17:20. Once again, the Austrian was behind the leaders in the water, but then she hammered her way to the front on the bike.
Gina Crawford from New Zealand exited the water in 27:45 minutes, followed by her Swiss shadow Simone Brändli (27:49) and German Katja Konschak (28:32). Hütthaler came out the water 1:46 later in ninth place. Her plan was to catch the leaders early, which she did. After only 25 kilometers Hütthaler was in second behind Crawford, only 44 seconds behind. At 60 kilometers Hütthaler was 41 seconds ahead of Crawford and third-placed Svenja Bazlen (GER). Hütthaler headed into T2 with a lead of 2:18, followed by Crawford and Bazlen (+2:28). Hütthaler ran 1:17:49 to celebrate her third IRONMAN 70.3 Austria victory in a row in 4:17:20. Kaisa Lehtonen (FIN) ran into silver in 4:20:58 ahead of former Olympian Bazlen (4:21:51).
Top 5 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
Top 5 Men
1 Eneko Llanos (ESP) 3:51:51
2 Marino Vanhoenack (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