A day after winning the 5i50 European championship, reigning IRONMAN 70.3 European champion Daniela Ryf won her IRONMAN debut in Zurich. Germany’s Boris Stein also won a “double” after taking the IRONMAN 70.3 Switzerland title in June.
Ryf’s brilliant tactics
The women's race was dominated by Swiss athletes from the start. In the water, Céline Schärer set the pace and hammered her way in the top group of the men. She exited the water in 51:23, Ryf trailed by 5:18, while, in third, Regula Rohrbach was 9:07 behind. On the bike Schärer dominated the first 80 kilometers before Rohrbach took over. Finally, after 120 kilometers, Natascha Badmann and Ryf showed up at the front. Although Badmann started the bike almost 14 minutes behind Schärer, she made it to the front thanks to the best bike split (4:55:00). 140 km into the bike Ryf took off alone to reach T2 with an advantage of 3:48 on of Badmann. Germany’s Sonja Tajsich was 8:13 behind in third. Once she had her running shoes on, Ryf ran to a clear victory. She celebrated the title in 9:13:30 along with an outstanding long-distance debut. Badmann, 47, reached the finish line in 9:28:37 for second. Despite her six IRONMAN world championships, it was her first start at IRONMAN Switzerland and crowd loved it. Tajsich took a close third in 9:29:15, while Germany’s Kristin Möller took fourth thanks to the day’s fastest marathon (3:00:28) ahead of Hungarian Erika Csomor.
Stein runs it down
The men’s race came down to the marathon. Britain’s Stephen Bayliss came out the water in 51:10, leading a group of seven including other co-favorites like Filip Ospaly (Czech Republic) and Switzerland’s Jan van Berkel. Stein was far behind (58:49), which seemed to put him out of the picture. On the bike Ospaly, Frenchman Bertrand Billard and van Berkel set a high speed from the beginning. Billard reached T2 leading van Berkel by 2:20, but Stein managed the best bike split (4:35:55). He was 6:50 behind in fifth place, with Bayliss and Slovenian David Plese right in front of him. Van Berkel then hammered through the first kilometers of the marathon to take the lead after 10 km. Plese surprised everyone when he ran into second 15 km into the marathon after taking third place at IRONMAN Austria and sixth at the Ironman European Championship just a few weeks ago. Shortly afterwards Stein passed Plese for second, but van Berkel still well ahead, enjoying a five-minute lead at the halfway point of the marathon. Just 10 km later, though, Stein was only 1:30 behind Berkel and just three kilometers after that he was in first. Stein claimed his first IRONMAN title in 8:33:02. Plese and the surprising third-place finisher, Marek Jaskolka of Poland, rounded out the podium. At the end of a “tough day at the office,” van Berkel took fifth behind Ospaly.
Top 5 Women:
1 Daniela Ryf (SUI) 09:13:30
2 Natascha Badmann (SUI) +15:07 09:28:37
3 Sonja Tajsich, Sonja (GER) +15:45 09:29:15
4 Kristin Möller (GER) +16:45 09:30:15
5 Erika Csomor , Erika (HUN) +18:44 09:32:14
Top 5 Men:
1 Boris Stein (GER) 08:33:02
2 David Plese (SLO) +01:11 08:34:13
3 Marek Jaskolka (POL) +07:38 08:40:40
4 Filip Ospaly +10:21 08:43:23
5 Jan van Berkel (SUI) +13:31 08:46:33