Legendary battles on a windy day made the jubilee race both in the men’s and women’s race a thrilling event.
Thomas impresses in second IRONMAN
All eyes were on IRONMAN world champion Jan Frodeno when the pro field headed into the water at the Playa Grande in Puerto del Carmen. Due to an injury, the German IRONMAN star had to withdraw from the IRONMAN African Championship in early April; today he seemed to be racked and ready for another great win.
It was no surprise that Frodeno took the lead in the water immediately. He set the pace right from the start and led a group of nine. Frodeno eventually exited the water in 46:53, which meant one of the best swim splits in the history of this legendary race. Brits Stephen Bayliss and David McNamee were only a few seconds behind the leader, as were Germany’s Johann Ackermann and Spaniard Ivan Rana.
Everyone seemed to be waiting for a great Frodeno show on the bike after his stunning performances last year at the IRONMAN European Championship Frankfurt, at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship and at the IRONMAN World Championship. But today, the favorite had another opponent: his helmet. It took Frodeno more than two minutes to get his helmet on properly in T1 while Bayliss stormed onto the bike course with McNamee, Ackermann, Rana, and others. It was then on McNamee to lead the race for about two hours up and down the tough course until Ackermann took over. He led the pro field not only to the famous top of Mirador del Rio, but also back into Puerto del Carmen and to the transition.
Once on the run, Ackermann started feeling the extremely windy day and rising temperatures and slowed. Frodeno, now in runner-up position thanks to a fast bike split, made his move to the front over the first few kilometers. The picture didn’t change for 15 kilometers until a flying shadow appeared to make the move of the day: Jesse Thomas jumped into first place as if not even thinking about the legendary career and the mental and physical strength of Frodeno. Thomas raced as he had done last September at his first-ever IRONMAN race in Wales: run to the win.
Thanks to the fastest marathon and a very consistent performance in the water and on the bike, the 36-year old took his second consecutive win in his second-ever IRONMAN. "I’m over the moon," Thomas said, "I knew it would be super difficult here. It just came together today." Frodeno took silver in front of another athlete with a huge smile on his face: McNamee felt like a champion when he crossed the line in third place.
Holst puts together a perfect day
In Lucy Charles' first IRONMAN as a pro athlete, the great swimmer placed herself in the men’s lead group to exit the water in the top 10 overall. When Charles came out of the water, other favorites like defending champion Diana Riesler from Germany were way behind. Thanks to her 47:11 swim split she had an advantage of 7:41 over local hero Saleta Castro, and Riesler was already 10 minutes behind.
Charles didn’t slow down on the bike and didn’t overpace herself either. She put the pedal to the metal and led the race in a clear way until she had to jump off the bike. Riesler and other big names were minutes behind, but Tine Holst had been biking on the tough and super windy course like her legs were made of Danish dynamite. She posted the best bike split by far on the course —which includes more than 2500 meters of climbing—and reached T2 only seven seconds behind the British leader Charles.
Early on the run, Holst made the pass. While the runner-up of 2015 IRONMAN Vichy never looked back, Charles first had to fight with Riesler for second place until the defending champion started cramping on the second half of the run. Charles showed a very consistent and impressive performance, but she finally had to give the runner-up position to a flying Belgian: Alexandra Tondeur ran into second place, thanks to the best marathon, ahead of Charles.
Top 5 Men
1 Jesse Thomas USA 8:42:33
2 Jan Frodeno GER 8:44:38
3 David McNamee GBR 8:46:36
4 Chris Baird USA 8:48:35
5 Ivan Rana ESP 8:50:09
Top 5 Women
1 Tine Holst DEN 10:02:35
2 Alexandra Tondeur BEL 10:04:53
3 Lucy Charles GBR 10:10:13
4 Diana Riesler GER 10:24:52
5 Caroline Livesey GBR 10:28:32