From start to finish, Pamella Oliveira was able to enjoy herself at Ironman Brazil; in fact, there was not a single moment where there was any doubt about her eventual victory, which she managed to claim by a huge margin. In the men’s race, the win went to Luciano Taccone, who had to fight a lot more for his victory.
The women’s race actually lacked any kind of excitement. This had to do not only with Oliveira’s strength, but also with the lack of a strong field of competitors. When Oliveira came out of the water after 48:36 minutes, she already had more than a four-minute lead over her first pursuer, and thereafter that lead would only grow. Once back in T2, Oliveira already had a lead of nearly 15 minutes over the number two and half an hour over the number three. During the run as well, her lead grew much larger. When Oliveira won the race in 8:44:26, it then took 26:08 minutes for her compatriot Mariana Borges de Andrade to finish second. American Alex Watt finished third but ended up 44:17 minutes behind Oliveira.
In the men’s race there was more tension for sure; after the swim many athletes were still together, but on the bike a leading group quickly emerged with Luciano Taccone, Igor Amorelli and Reinaldo Colucci. The three men stayed together for the entire 180 kilometers and came off the bike with a lead of over five minutes over Andre Lopes, and then the gap was already almost ten minutes on the next athletes.
During the run, it was initially Colucci who took the lead – his advantage gap never became large though – but just before halfway through the marathon, Taccone came alongside. From then on, Taccone ran strongly and unchallenged to victory: he won the race in 7:55:38. Colucci was second in 8:00:44 and Lopes was third in 8:03:02.
