Canadian Tyler Mislawchuk took just 12 days to record his first victory this year: by winning Ironman 70.3 Pucon, he just won the first Ironman of the new season. In the women’s race, the win in Chile was for Mexican Cecilia Perez.
In the men’s race, there was a remarkably exciting battle for a race this early in the season, with as many as nine men coming off the bike at the same time. Biggest names in that leading group, in addition to Mislawchuk, were Jason West, Diego Moya and Vicente Trewhela, but in the end no one was up to Mislawchuk. The Canadian won the race – which remarkably had no timing points – in a finish time of 3:47:40, ultimately staying 1:27 minute ahead of West. Brazilian M. M. D. S. Junior finished third at 2:35 minutes behind.
In the women’s race, then, the win went to Perez, who won the race by a large margin. When she crossed the finish line in 4:27:09, it was an 8:51 minute wait before Chilean Macarena Salazar crossed the line second. Francisca Garrido, also Chilean, finished third at 9:38 minutes behind.
