They both had to fight for it until the very end, but British athlete Harry Palmer and fellow Brit Lizzie Rayner won Ironman 70.3 Swansea this morning. In both cases, the margins were small, and the concluding half marathon proved to be the ultimate decider.
In the men’s race, Frenchman Pierre le Corre clocked the fastest swim time with 22:29, closely followed by Ollie Turner, Kieran Lindars, Mika Noodt, Josh Lewis, and Malachi Cashmore, among others. After these six men, the gap widened, and Harry Palmer came out of the water in thirteenth place, trailing by 1:16.
On the bike, Noodt in particular began to push the pace, allowing the German to take a solo lead. Noodt rode so strongly that he saw his lead grow to more than four minutes ahead of a now fairly large chasing group, which had bunched together and did everything they could to close the gap despite the deficit. While they didn’t succeed, things still went wrong for Noodt: with just ten kilometers to go, the leader suffered a heavy crash and was ultimately picked up by an ambulance – covered in scrapes and with a shredded trisuit.
Noodt’s sudden exit immediately created a completely different dynamic, meaning Palmer, Lindars, Lewis, and the Belgian Joran Driesen started the final half marathon together as the top four athletes. This instantly led to an exciting battle, with Lindars being the one to take the initial initiative and remaining in the lead for about nine kilometers. However, Palmer followed closely just a few seconds behind, and halfway through the run, he actually took over the lead. Although his advantage never grew very large, Palmer ultimately ran his way to a wonderful victory.
Palmer won in 3:50:27, Lindars finished second in 3:51:12, and Driesen took third in 3:53:40.
Women’s race: exciting until the last meters
In the women’s race, the run also turned into a true thriller, as winner Lizzie Rayner saw her lead shrink rapidly in the closing stages. Of course, a swim and bike preceded this; in the water, Maëla Moisin clocked 24:44, closely followed by Ellie White, India Lee, and Jasmine Holmes, while women like Stephanie Clutterbuck, Megan McDonald, Kate Curran, and also Lizzie Rayner conceded just a bit more, at around forty seconds.
On the bike, it was not entirely surprising to see Lee go on the attack, but the British athlete did not seem as strong as she once was; she couldn’t truly break away, and meanwhile, Rayner was perhaps riding the race of her life. She closed in on the leader, particularly in the final phase, and even caught up to her. Once in T2, Rayner headed for her running shoes with a 32-second lead over Lee, followed by Rebecca Anderbury in third place at 1:29. Ultimately, more danger would come from France’s Anne-Sophie Pierre, who started the run in fourth place with a deficit of 3:09.
While Rayner stuck to her own plan and ran excellently, Pierre kept gaining ground and eventually moved up into second place. In the final kilometers, her deficit quickly – very quickly, even – grew smaller, leaving a gap of just 43 seconds in the final kilometer. Yet, it was just not enough; even though she shaved off nearly another half-minute in the final meters, Rayner held onto just enough of a margin to secure the victory.
Rayner won in 4:23:56, while Pierre followed in second at 4:24:11. Poland’s Marta Lagownik, who ran even faster than the women ahead of her, finished third in 4:24:54.
