On the 8th September at Ironman 70.3 world championship it was the men race day. That was an interesting race. Congratulation to Gustav Iden (NOR) for his 1st Ironman 70.3 world champion title. He outran Alistair Brownlee (GBR) who finished in 2nd place. 3rd place finisher was Rodolophe Von Berg (USA), 4th place – Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) and 5th place – Sebastian Kienle (DEU).
Check out the highlights on the Triathlon Endurance World Youtube channel.
Swimming Component of the Race
Let’s look a bit more into the swim part of the race. The water temperature on the 8th September was even warmer than the day before – 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees F). No wetsuits allowed for pro athletes according to regulations (no wetsuits starting from 21,5 degrees Celsius water temperature). It was less windy and the water had tiny waves. Josh Amberger (AUS) lead the race from the start and was followed from Alistair Brownlee (GBR) through all the swim. The spear head composed of these two athletes was followed in a pack by the others. So on till the exit out of the water. You will see in the next paragraph that first 10 pro male athletes got out of the water in the time frame of 9 seconds.
Triathletes and Their Swimskins
As mentioned before because of the warm water temperature wetsuits were not allowed. Let’s examine first 10 pro female athletes out of water and the swimskins (also called Speedsuits) they were racing in. I also added the swim times. It was a very tight swim as I mentioned before.
Pro Men (exiting the water)
1 Josh Amberger (AUS) / 23:15 – Zone 3 Streamline
2 Alistair Brownlee (GBR) / 23:17 – Huub Albacore
3 Sam Appelton (AUS) / 23:19 – Roka Viper
4 Ben Kanute (USA) / 23.21 – Debour Tsunami 1.0
5 Filipe Azevedo (PRT) / 23:21 – Huub Albacore
6 Daniel Bækkegård (DNK) / 23:21 – Sailfish Rebel Pro
7 Javier Gomez (ESP) / 23.:22 – Roka Viper
8 Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) / 23:23 – Huub Albacore
9 Adam Bowden (GBR) / 23:24 – Zone 3 Streamline
10 Thomas Davis (GBR) 26.39 – Huub Albacore
So if we count brand representation Huub has 4 athletes, Roka and Zone 3 have each 2 athletes, Debour and Sailfish have each 1 athlete. In comparison to pro women top 10 out of water under pro men there are no Blue Seventy and TYR representation, but under women no Sailfish and Huub representation.
So what’s next? KOOOOONNNNNNNAAAAA!!! Ironman World Championship 2019 on October 12!
Stay tuned and I will check out and review the swim part of from Kona.
Ingus
