Linsey Corbin clocked a new course record and Ivan Rana celebrated the second-fastest time in IRONMAN history at IRONMAN Austria. Linsey Corbin had just one wish for IRONMAN Austria. The 32-year-old wanted to grab the cowboy hat she wears when she crosses an IRONMAN finish line as quickly as possible. The Austrian crowd were used to seeing that after they cheered the American across the line in first two years ago. But this time things were different for Corbin: when she jumped into Lake Wörthersee, she knew that she was in for a tough battle because she was up against some strong pro athletes.
From the start Switzerland’s Simone Braendli took the lead and swam amongst the top male pros. When she exited the water, she was 10th overall. Braendli’s swim 45:51 split put her well ahead of the rest of the women’s field. IRONMAN rookie Michi Herlbauer from Austria followed in 51:23 ahead of 2007 champion Edith Niederfriniger (ITA). It was no surprise for Corbin to see Sofie Goos from Belgium in front of her in fifth (52:06), but another Austrian, Lisa Hütthaler, had a great swim, exiting the water in 52:05. Corbin followed in sixth place (53:02) and knew she had to hammer on the bike to catch the strong cyclists ahead. After about 60 km Hütthaler took the lead, dominating on the bike course as she has done already this season on her way to three IRONMAN 70.3 titles. Through 115 km Hütthaler led the race by three minutes over Goos, who was followed by Braendli and Corbin.
“I took a high risk to catch up with her,” Corbin said after the race. Corbin reached T2 after an impressive 4:47:03 bike split having passed Hütthaler for the lead at the 150 km point.
“I felt really tired at the start of the marathon,” Corbin said, “But I wanted to start fast into the run. I did not want to run with Lisa.”
Corbin’s 2:56:53 marathon helped her break Mary Beth Ellis’ course record by almost a minute, shocking even herself.
“I guess this race has to sink in a bit,” she said after recording not only a new personal best, but also one of the fastest IRONMAN times ever.
Braendli passed Hütthaler 14 km into the run, and finished second. Hütthaler was a happy third place finisher, also breaking the nine-hour-mark with her 8:53:20. Goos followed in 8:57:08 ahead of another rookie, Michi Herlbauer (8:59:57).
Rana goes on the bike
As expected the men’s race was fast right from the gun. Germany’s Faris Al-Sultan took the lead early, but was quickly joined at the front by a huge group. Luiz Francisco Ferreira was first out of the water in 44:17 followed by seven athletes within 23 seconds. In T1 Al-Sultan took the lead and quickly started to hammer away on the bike. Al-Sultan hit the gas for about 100 km before Spaniard Ivan Rana showed up at the front. After his sixth-place finish at the IRONMAN World Championship, Rana had worked a lot on the bike. As Germany’s Christian Kramer moved into runner-up position, Al-Sultan found himself dealing with technical issues that forced him to drop out at the 140 km point of the bike. Another surprise came from Austrian rookie Andreas Giglmayer, who was in third. Rana led the race into T2, 2:21 ahead of Kramer and Giglmayer, who was 4:23 behind.
“I was thinking about a 7:45 finish,” said Rana after the race. Three years ago Marino Vanhoenacker clocked the IRONMAN world-best time here in 7:45:58. Although he ended up a little slower than Vanhoenacker (7:48:43), Rana was happy.
“Everything worked out in a wonderful way,” said the 35-year-old after running a 2:43:43 marathon. Kramer kept the pace up on the run to cross the line in 7:54:31. David Plese (SLO) moved into third place during the run, just as he had done last year, with his 8:02:54 ahead of Austrian rookie Giglmayer (8:09:06). Just a few seconds after Plese crossed the line he took the microphone and asked his fiancée to marry him. After his great race he got the answer he was hoping for: yes!