The final result reads like a football score Sweden 1 Germany 1 with a maiden IRONMAN win for Sweden’s Patrik Nilsson and Germany’s Diana Reisler. A perfect morning presented swimmers with a millpond 3.8km swim. Late entry Dylan McNeice (NZL) was first out the water and started the bike with an 80 second lead from Ben Sanson (FRA). McNeice took off opening up a sizable gap while Sanson dropped back and was joined by Nilsson and Bell (AUS), who rode together with Brown (NZL) and Fredrik Croneborg (SWE) a further five minutes back. After mechanical issues at 105 km Sanson eventually had to withdraw.
At 80 km Nilsson made a break from his group and came into the bike turn at 90 km just 10 sec back from Nilsson. Feeling good and ready to push, Nilsson’s plan was soon halted when, on the first climb of lap two, his chain stuck and he had to get off the bike and seek help from the mechanics.
Back on the go again, he caught up and started to work his way back to the group. Meanwhile, Tim Beardall (AUS) came from nowhere and was suddenly at the front of the race. His tactic posted the quickest bike split, but it was to no avail as he faulted on the run. Taking the conservative approach were Croneborg and Karol Dzalaj (SVK), who gradually gained time and places.
When the lead men came into T2, Nilsson had regained his position and moved to the front with a clear lead. It seemed everyone behind Nilsson was suffering in the heat with the exception of Croneborg and Dzalaj, who moved through the field and took home second and third respectively.
"That was a really tough day especially last 10k. The first two laps I kept reminding myself to stay cool and knew I had the lead and the guys would have to run really good to catch me. But those two laps. Those were really really hard," said Nilsson.
Dzliaj was ecstatic over his finish to round the men’s podium.
The ladies winner was more cut and dry. In fact the whole day was just about one contender. Out the swim in third, Diana Riesler (DEU) caught and overtook Japanese athletes Maki Nishicuci and Keiko Tanaka by 30 km to move into the lead. There was then no looking back—only forward—for the German who went on to take her first IRONMAN win and come home fifth overall in extremely trying conditions.
The battle for second and third was a less straightforward. For 70 km Nishicuci and Tanaka exchanged places. That was until Rebecca Preston (AUS) hunted them down and moved took over second and held it all the way to transition. Tanaka regrouped and hit the run strong and moving back to second as Preston slipped back. Quietly working hard and flying under the radar Australia’s Dimity Lee Duke was moving through the ranks until 16.4km she moved into third. Catching Tanaka but never quite knowing where she was, Dimity ran across to take third after an exhausted Tanaka, who kept the Aussie at bay.
Malaysia’s first athlete across the line was Mohd Amran Ghani. Running in his first ever IRONMAN the fire fighter had a flawless race and ranked 20 overall. In a time of 10:14:54
Top 5 Professional Men
1. Patrik Nilsson (SWE) 00:49:49 04:40:31 03:05:37 08:41:53
2. Fredrik Croneborg (SWE) 00:53:34 04:49:56 03:10:00 08:58:45
3. Karol Dzalaj (SVK) 00:56:05 04:47:03 09:15:00
4. Dylan McNeice (NZL) 00:46:19 04:53:19 03:41:05 09:26:28
5. Kaito Tohara (JPN) 00:56:12 05:19:57 03:11:33 09:33:27
Top 5 Professional Women
1. Diana Riesler (DEU) 00:59:11 04:48:44 03:23:11 09:26:38
2. Keiko Tanaka (JPN) 00:56:51 05:28:43 03:29:23 10:00:13
3. Dimity Lee-Duke (AUS) 01:04:11 05:25:17 03:26:33 10:02:03
4. Li Shiao Yu (TWN) 01:09:19 05:24:07 03:31:11 10:10:37
5. Beth Gerdes (USA) 01:09:19 05:24:07 03:31:11 10:10:37