Mike Phillips (NZL) and Sophie Malowiecki (AUS) beat South Korea’s heat and humidity to take well-earned victories at Challenge Gunsan-Saemangeum today, with Malowieki posting her first professional win.
Nicholas Free (AUS) led the men out of the water in 27:44 while Phillips was a couple of minutes down, exiting the water hot on the heels of Caleb Noble (AUS) but it wasn’t long before he showed his power on the bike, overtaking Noble, Tuan Chan Chung (TPE) and Miao Hao (CHN), among others, to take the lead, a position he held for the remainder of the bike. Behind him, the battle was on between Noble and Hao but neither was in touch with Phillips. Noble came into T2 6:03 down on Phillips with Hao a further minute back. While it seemed like the makeup of the podium was decided, if not the final placings, Chung had other ideas and flew up the field, overtaking both Noble and Hao to take second behind the New Zealander. Final men’s placing were Phillips in 3:50:31, Chung in 3:59:19 and Noble in 3:59:55.
In the women’s race, Malowiecki led from start to finish, exiting the swim in 30:23, nearly three minutes ahead of Kate Bevilaqua (AUS). Once on the bike there was no stopping her and she came into T2 with a clear lead over Katie Remond (AUS) with Bevilaqua in third. On the run she was also untouchable, taking the victory in 4:22:52. Behind her, a course error by Remond resulted in a DSQ, with Sarah Thomas (AUS) taking second in 4:40:43 and Lauren Hume (AUS) rounding out the podium in 4:43:33.
“I’m definitely relieved to take the win,” said Malowiecki at the finish line. “It was a long day out of the front and I just had to believe in myself and my race plan. This is my first Challenge race and I’ve really enjoyed my experience and everyone was really welcoming.”