In a time of 8:37:22, Svenja Thoes has just won Ironman Emilia-Romagna. During the run she was chased by two Swiss athletes, but German Thoes proved strong enough to claim victory. Silver and bronze went to Julie Derron and Joanna Ryter.
It was the same Derron who came out of the water first after 53:18 minutes and at that point had a one-and-a-half-minute gap on her first three chasers. It took Thoes much longer; she returned to T1 in eighth place, already more than five minutes behind.
That gap for Thoes initially got bigger during the bike, but after about 45 kilometers, she began to ride to the front at a fairly high pace. Derron, who was leading on her own, was no match for that and after just over 100 kilometers saw not only Thoes, but also German Margrit Elfers pass her. Derron could not catch up with them; she had to let the two new leaders go. Once in T2, Thoes and Elfers were still riding together, while Derron’s gap had increased to a whopping six minutes by then. Very impressive; Ryter, who thus eventually finished third, was in eleventh place at this point in the race and was more than sixteen minutes behind.
That deficit of Ryter was largely made up during the closing marathon. During that run, it was immediately Thoes who took the lead in the race, while Derron had already made up her six-minute deficit to Elfers after only thirteen kilometers and regained second position. After 26 kilometers Elfers dropped back even more and Ryter also passed her, who was then third.
Nothing changed in that position in the last sixteen kilometers anymore; Thoes won the race in 8:37:22. Derron was second in a time of 8:43:20 and Ryter third in 8:45:13.
