Polish triathlete Kacper Stepniak delivered a thrilling hometown victory at Ironman 70.3 Krakow, edging out Germany’s Maximilian Sperl in a race that remained on a knife’s edge for nearly the entire day.
From start to finish, Stepniak and Sperl were locked in a fierce battle that captivated spectators. The day began with Germany’s Magnus Männer leading out of the water in 24:52, followed closely by Stepniak just three seconds behind. Sperl wasn’t far off either, hitting transition in third place with an 18-second deficit.
As the bike leg unfolded, Männer quickly dropped off the pace, leaving Stepniak and Sperl to set the tone at the front. It wasn’t until the final stages of the ride that Stepniak managed to carve out a slight advantage, entering T2 with a 50-second lead over Sperl. Behind them, a large chase group trailed by nearly five minutes, effectively taking them out of contention for the win.
The run saw Sperl claw his way to within 20 seconds at one point, but Stepniak responded strongly, stretching the lead back to nearly a minute. With the finish line in sight and the Krakow crowd behind him, Stepniak surged once more to secure victory in a commanding 3:39:41. Sperl crossed the line in second at 3:41:15, while Azerbaijan’s (but racing for Ukraine, ed.) Rostyslav Pevtsov rounded out the podium in 3:43:20.
