It was an exciting 2018 edition of the KMD IRONMAN Copenhagen. The conditions in the morning were perfect, the lagoon at Amager Strandpark was crowded and perfectly prepared for over 3,000 athletes.
From the beginning, all eyes were on the British pro Tim Don who suffered from a fractured cervical spine only a few days before racing the IRONMAN World Championship last year. He made his way back incredibly fast, aiming for the Kona slot here in Copenhagen. He made it out of the water third (45:56) after Jesper Svensson (DEN) and Johann Ackermann (GER) (both 45:54).
After T1 Tim Don quickly took over the lead on the bike. Looking strong he left his competitors Ackermann and Clemente Alonso-McKernan (ESP) behind. Another chasing group about 3 minutes behind consisted of Giulio Molinari (ITA), Boris Stein (GER), Sebastian Neef (GER), Cyril Viennot (FRA), Markus Fachbach (GER) and Kristian Høgenhaug (DEN). At about 50k,Alonso-McKernan took over second and decreased the gap between him and Don. At the begin of the second lap on the bike Alonso-McKernan overtook Don who fell back. Høgenhaug made it to second 125 k. Viennot came closer and Don was displaced to sixth.
Alonso-McKernan made it to T2 first almost 4 minutes ahead of Høgenhaug. Stein and Viennot followed another two minutes later. Despite being first on the marathon, Viennot soon showed his fast running legs and took over the lead. Don came back and ran up to second place again, Molinari third. But Don couldn’t keep his pace and at 25k fell back again. Viennot flew away, increasing the gap between him and his chasers Høgenhaug and Molinari by 4 minutes. Don dropped out of the race at 26k.
Viennot kept his constant pace and won his third IRONMAN with a new personal best and exciting sub-8 time of 7:59:52. Kristian Høgenhaug finished second in 8:02:53. The podium was completed by Giulio Molinari in 8:05:56.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Viennot, Cyril FRA 7:59:52
2 Høgenhaug, Kristian DEN 8:02:53
3 Molinari, Giulio ITA 8:05:56
4 Stein, Boris GER 8:10:51
5 Fachbach, Markus GER 8:14:32