Jackson Laundry and Jeanni Metzler won Ironman 70.3 Michigan today. Laundry mainly made the difference during the bike while Metzler mainly decided the race during the run.
In the men’s race, it was Jackson Laundry who didn’t even start the race very strongly, as after the swim he was 13th and was already 2:24 minutes behind. Fastest swimmer of the day was Greg Harper (22:03) but men like Ben Kanute and Justin Riele were also ahead of Laundry.
On the bike, Laundry actually rode to the front at lightning speed and after thirty kilometers he was already third, with only Kanute and Riele ahead of him. At that point, the two leaders had a minute lead on Riele, but twenty kilometers in, that lead had already disappeared, leaving three leaders together. Still, Laundry kept pushing and in the final kilometers he even rode away from Riele and Kanute, starting the run with more than a minute lead.
During the run, it actually quickly became apparent that no one was going to keep Laundry from winning, and his lead eventually even doubled. Laundry won the race in 3:39:09, while Kanute finished second in 3:41:07. Riele squandered his podium finish when he was overtaken in the final kilometers by Matthew Sharpe, who finished third in 3:45:23.
Also in the women’s race, the eventual winner had to chase after the swim. Jeanni Metzler came back sixth in T2 and was then 2:02 minutes behind Summer Rappaport, who recorded the fastest swim time with 24:30 minutes. For a while it looked like Metzler would ride to the lead as well, and she eventually joined a chasing group that included Gabrielle Lumkes, Grace Alexander and also Rappaport, but it was American Lisa Becharas who took off on her own. Becharas rode so strongly that she started the half marathon with more than two minutes ahead of her first chaser Adele Likin, while Metzler was then facing a gap of even three minutes.
Becharas started the half marathon energetically, even managed to increase her lead significantly, but after the first kilometers Metzler began to advance to the front. Still, it took until the ten kilometer mark before Metzler actually took over the lead in the race and then was able to run to victory. She did so in a time of 4:11:31. Likin finished second in 4:12:39 and Alexander finished third in 4:16:07.
