Germany’s Ironman world champion Sebastian Kienle won on home soil yesterday, while Britain’s David McNamee managed to secure bronze at Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau.
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German Jens Roth exited the water at the Lake Hardtsee in 24:05mins, nine seconds ahead of the strong swimmer Andreas Boecherer. Kienle was in 10th place and left the water in 24:27mins, lost some time in transition, but then hammered his way back to the front on the hilly bike course.
Boecherer made an early and decisive move but struggled a bit on the run, while Kienle managed to ignore the high temperatures and hard bike ride. After an impressive bike split of 2:08:45 he ran a 1:15:26 half marathon to take a superb win ahead of Boecherer and strong runner McNamee.
Men’s podium (left to right): Andy Boecherer, Sebastian Kienle, David McNamee
Women
The women’s race was also decided on the bike: Camilla Pedersen (DEN) and Anja Beranek (GER) escaped from a group of four leaders after the swim to nail down a gap for the run, knowing that Germany’s Julia Gajer is always a superb runner.
Beranek had the best bike split in 2:30:07 and reached T2 together with Pedersen, but the race was still very close when it came down to run. Gajer was only 2:06mins behind starting into the run, but she could already feel the heat.
She was able to pass Beranek for second place, but Pedersen had a steady run pace and kept the advantage on her side to take a great win. Through 18km, Beranek got passed by her fellow countrywoman Svenja Bazlen.
Julia Gajer on the bike at Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau
Top 5 men
1. Kienle, Sebastian (GER): 3:51:56 2. Boecherer, Andy (GER): 3:58:06 3. McNamee, David (GBR): 4:00:25 4. Costes, Antony (FRA): 4:01:18 5. Lange, Patrick (GER): 4:02:42
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