Daniela Ryf and Boris Stein took overall wins at IRONMAN 70.3 Switzerland. Ryf shattered the previous record held by Nicola Spirig. Daniela Ryf had an extraordinary day at IRONMAN 70.3 Switzerland. The IRONMAN 70.3 European Champion not only won, she broke the course record by more than eight minutes. Boris Stein won in his second attempt at the race.
Stein dominates on land
Boris Stein took the win at IRONMAN 70.3 Switzerland powered by BMC thanks to a great day on the bike and on the run. A year ago the German was depressed because they had to cancel the race due to a landslide while Stein was leading the race. Second time was the charm for him.
Trailing after the swim, Stein, 29, found himself chasing Switzerland’s Jan van Berkel who was out of the water in 22:54. Van Berkel was followed by a group of six that included seven-time IRONMAN Switzerland champion Ronnie Schildknecht, along with fellow Swiss athletes Mike Aigroz and Ruedi Wild. Stein exited the water in 25:01 in 20th position. On the bike he moved into the top 10 early on and by 52 km he was in eighth place and only a minute behind the lead group. At about 80 km of the challenging bike course Stein caught the leaders and moved into first. He only had a one-second lead on van Berkel, while the group with Aigroz, Schildknecht and Wild were about 40 seconds behind.
On the run former Olympic-distance specialist Ruedi Wild (SUI) tried hard to catch Stein, but he never got closer to 30 seconds. Both ran an impressive 1:10 half marathon. The happy German crossed the line in 3:44:42 followed by Wild in 3:45:33. Aigroz rounded up the podium ahead of Schildknecht in 3:46:41.
Ryf’s impressive performance
The boys on the podium were happy, but there was only one word to describe the performance of Daniela Ryf: impressive. The reigning IRONMAN 70.3 European Champion was one of the clear favorites, but no one was expecting a race like this. The strong Swiss athlete was only seven seconds slower than specialist Céline Schärer (SUI) in the water, Ryf’s second-best swim time was 23:01, and then she was off. Ryf started the bike in first and after 52 km she was 7:55 ahead of Michelle Vesterby (DEN). When the 27-year-old entered T2 the gap was even bigger thanks to her outstanding 2:16:36 bike split. Emma Bilham (SUI) entered the transition 11:55 later, ahead of Vesterby (+13:27), while 2012 Olympic champion Nicola Spirig (SUI) was fifth and 17:51 behind. The crowd in Rapperswil went wild watching Ryf smash the course record thanks to a 1:17:29 half marathon. Her 4:00:14 missed the magical four-hour-mark by a few seconds and broke the record Spirig set in 2012 just a few months before her Olympic gold medal by more than eight minutes. This time Spirig had to settle with third thanks a solid run that got her to the line in in 4:21:17, while Bilham was runner-up in 4:12:01.
Top 5 Women
1 Ryf, Daniela (SUI) 04:00:14
2 Pooley, Emma (GBR) +11:47 04:12:01
3 Spirig, Nicola (SUI) +21:03 04:21:17
4 Vesterby, Michelle (DEN) +23:05 04:23:19
5 Tondeur, Alexandra (BEL) +31:25 04:31:39
Top 5 Men
1 Stein, Boris (GER) 03:44:42
2 Wild, Ruedi (SUI) +00:49 03:45:31
3 Aigroz, Mike (SUI) +01:49 03:46:31
4 Schildknecht, Ronnie (SUI) +03:00 03:47:42
5 Van Berkel, Jan (SUI) +04:46 03:49:28