In Poland, Emil Holm and Marlene de Boer added Ironman 70.3 Poznan victories to their records. Holm led from start to finish, while De Boer decided the race during the run.
Holm immediately recorded the fastest swim time with 22:39, although he then had William Even following directly and Jan Volár, Iestyn Harett and Thomas Davis also had perfect connections. On the bike, however, Holm proved to be of a different class and soon managed to grab a lead of more than a minute. For a long time that lead remained intact, but in the final kilometers British athlete Will Draper rode up nicely to the front, closing in on Holm to only eighteen seconds. That both men would battle for the win was clear in T2, as the rest of the men followed three minutes behind or more.
The first kilometers of the run immediately removed all tension, as Holm ran away from Draper almost directly and did not see his lead threatened again either. He won the race in 3:39:28, while Draper (fourth) languished and did not finish on the podium. Harrett finished second in 3:40:38 and Belgian Nick Thijs finished third in 3:41:02.
In the women’s race, De Boer got off to an immediate good start; she came out of the water in sixth position, just thirteen seconds behind the fastest swimmer of the day. While it might have been expected that De Boer would take the initiative during the bike, the eventual winner proved no match for British Megan McDonald on the bike, who managed to grab a lead of over a minute. German Franziska Reng, who was able to follow McDonald, also rode away from De Boer, who in turn started the half marathon in third position.
During those 21 kilometers, De Boer’s advance was actually quite rapid. Her gap clearly narrowed in the first kilometers already and after about seven kilometers she caught up with McDonald. Not much later, Reng was also outsmarted and from then on De Boer ran unchallenged to victory.
De Boer won the race in 4:05:10. The strong Rebecca Anderbury ran forward to a second in 4:07:17 and Reng finished third in 4:07:36.
