Late in their careers, both Daniil Sapunov and Mareen Hufe had plenty to celebrate with their victories at the IRONMAN Malaysia at Langkawi. Sapunov (UKR), 36, achieved his breakthrough IRONMAN victory after nearly a decade at the distance. He came out of the swim with the leaders and took charge when defending champion Romain Guillaume cramped badly late on the bike after the pair pushed clear of chasers. From there, he was in a class of his own on the run to win in 8:33:37, which was 21:37 clear of second place Kaito Tohara (Japan) and 35:35 back to Urs Muller (Switzerland) in third. A fourth in Malaysia in 2016 was the previous best for the 36-year-old triple Olympian.
Entering the women's race, 40-year-old Hufe was twice a runner-up at Langkawi in 2016 and 2017. She trailed American Jocelyn McCauley by six minutes out of the water, but caught her at the 110km mark on the bike, before taking a 4:30 lead at the start of marathon. As McCauley faded and eventually withdrew, Hufe produced a 3:23 marathon run in challenging conditions to cruise to victory in 9:25:22, which was fifth-fastest overall. There were impressive podiums for Simona Krivankova from the Czech Republic, who ran up to second place in 9:55:36, and Italy’s Federica de Nicola, who enjoyed her first professional podium appearance in 9:57:29.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Sapunov, Daniil UKR 8:33:37
2 Tohara, Kaito JPN 8:55:14
3 Muller, Urs SUI 9:09:12
4 Groch, Nathan AUS 9:24:41
5 Csoke, Balazs HUN 9:28:25
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Hufe, Mareen DEU 9:25:22
2 Krivankova, Simona CZE 9:55:36
3 De Nicola, Federica ITA 9:57:29
4 Visser, Els NED 10:02:49
5 Kotopulu, Helena CZE 10:09:30