When you lead a race almost the entire day and end up winning by over twenty minutes, you are rightfully the best athlete of the day. Nikki Bartlett can safely say that of herself, because not only did she come to Ironman Wales, she completely dominated the race by winning with an impressive margin.
After the swim, it was still Germany’s Johanna Ahrens in the lead; she came out of the water after 57:41 minutes and then had to head toward the leaden bike course. At that point she was defending a 2:36 minute lead over Bartlett, who was the second athlete to head on to the bike course. Ahrens could not enjoy her lead for long, because already after forty kilometers on the bike, Bartlett had changed her deficit into a 4-minute lead. During the day, Bartlett’s lead would grow bigger and bigger.
When Bartlett started the marathon, the excitement from the race was actually completely gone; her lead was then fourteen minutes already. Even during the 42-kilometer run, her lead continued to grow and with it, the excitement became less and less.
Bartlett won Ironman Wales supremely and in a time of 9:52:02. Heini Hartikainen from Finland finished second in 10:15:22. Ahrens finished third in 10:30:21.
