For the third time – and second time in a row – Taylor Knibb has just become World Champion Ironman 70.3. In Taupo, New Zealand, the American athlete did exactly what was expected: she destroyed everyone on the bike, constantly increased her lead and during the run she simply finished it off.
Right from the swim, the race was made tough, mainly by Knibb. This was somewhat striking, as she usually only shows herself during the bike and run, but this time the defending champion thus immediately took the initiative and was eager to make a statement. Still, she let herself drop back a bit in the last few hundred meters of the swim, eventually leaving the initiative to Sara Perez Sala and also Lotte Wilms. These were also the women who came out of the water first, but immediately behind them followed Rebecca Clarke, Marta Sanchez, Knibb, Imogen Simmonds, Caroline Pohle, Julie Derron, Hanne de Vet and Jodie Stimpson, among others. The first ten athletes came out of the water within 24 seconds of each other, while a number of favorites faced bigger deficits. Kat Matthews, for example, followed in fifteenth place at 43 seconds, Ashleigh Gentle came out of the water immediately after at 44 seconds, and Paula Findlay was allowed to search for her bike in twentieth position – one minute behind Knibb.
On the bike all kinds of groups were formed, but what everyone had anticipated happened immediately at the front: in the first tough kilometers Knibb rode to the lead and would not relinquish it to the finish. Knibb started to really accelerate after a few kilometers already and made sure that nobody could keep up with her. After thirty kilometers she was already a minute and a half ahead of Simmonds and Matthews, who had found each other in the chase, and thirty kilometers later her lead had increased to another minute. Meanwhile, behind Simmonds and Matthews was a larger chasing group including Wilms, Gentle, Derron, Sanchez, Findlay, Pohle and also Belgium’s Hanne de Vet, but even that group saw the gap grow larger and larger.
In the final 15 kilometers of cycling, Knibb accelerated yet again, on another tough stretch of climbing, and that meant her lead in T2 had increased to 4:39 on Simmonds and 4:52 on Matthews. The chasing group behind, who at that point had been caught by Hannah Berry, Lisa Becharas and Laura Madsen, followed at over eight minutes.
The fact that Knibb’s victory was actually no longer in danger did not make the half marathon any less interesting. All sorts of things were still happening and the battle for bronze proved especially exciting. Almost immediately it was clear that Knibb would win and that the very strong running Matthews, who eventually approached Knibb by just over a minute, would be second was also evident, but behind them a battle for third place erupted between Simmonds, Gentle and Derron. After fifteen kilometers it was clear who was the strongest of these women and Gentle began to secure third place.
The race was won by Knibb: she prolonged her world title in 3:57:34. Matthews was second at 1:15 minute behind and Gentle was third at 5:27 minute behind.
Full top ten:
- Taylor Knibb 3:57:34
- Kat Matthews +1:15
- Ashleigh Gentle +5:27
- Imogen Simmonds +7:38
- Julie Derron +8:28
- Paula Findlay +9:38
- Ellie Salthouse +10:14
- Caroline Pohle +10:32
- Tamara Jewett +11:12
- Grace Thek +11:33
