Thanks to extraordinary performances on the bike course, Austria's Lisa Huetthaler and Frenchman Bertrand Billard took the wins in a fast race.
In the men’s race at IRONMAN 70.3 Budapest, a Hungarian stormed the swim just as he had done the week before at IRONMAN Switzerland. Balasz Csoke had the fastest swim in 23:03, and he started onto the bike course in first place just seconds ahead of a strong group including favorites like Ivan Rana (ESP), Horst Reichel (GER) and Bertrand Billard (FRA).
After only a few kilometers, the group caught up with the leader, and Billard, Reichel and the Hungarian David Hanko began to set the pace at the front. Shortly before the 40 kilometer mark, Billard eventually made his move. He started opening up a gap thanks to a gutsy bike performance, and hit T2 with a lead of 3:21 over Reichel and Hanko.
While the Hungarian struggled a bit on the run, Reichel had a fast run split gaining time on Billard. With 5 kilometers to go, the German runner-up was only a minute behind, but he couldn’t touch Billard anymore. Russia’s Ivan Tutukin ran onto the final podium spot with the fastest run split.
In the women's race, Huetthaler was, as expected, behind in the water. After a longer injury, the 32-year old Austrian exited the water in fifth place, 2:35 behind leader Carina Brechters (GER). While the two Brits Vanessa Raw and Emma Pallant were making up time on the German leader oven the first kilometers, Huetthaler hammered to the front shortly after.
It didn’t take much longer than 25 kilometers until Huetthaler had made her way into the lead; the Austrian had a lead of almost four minutes when she reached T2 ahead of the two Hungarians, Anna Halasz and Erika Csomor. Pallant had a great run, but she could only make it into the runner-up position ahead of Halasz, while Huetthaler celebrated a great win in her third race after a season off from racing.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Billard, Bertrand FRA 3:41:11
2 Reichel, Horst DEU 3:41:46
3 Tuukin, Ivan RUS 3:43:05
4 Zyemtsev UKR 3:43:55
5 Sapunov UKR 3:43:55
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Huetthaler, Lisa AUT 4:06:36
2 Pallant, Emma GBR 4:09:31
3 Halasz, Anna HUN 4:12:16
4 Raw, Vanessa GBR 4:14:57
5 Csomor, Erika HUN 4:16:16