Ironman racing returned to Australia for 2022 in Geelong, a city near Melbourne in the state of Victoria. Half-distance specialist Sam Appleton used an even performance in all three disciplines to take the race over a stacked field of Australia’s top male triathletes.
As we’re used to seeing whenever he’s in a race, Josh Amberger led the men out of the water in 21:31, but the former Kona swim leader had some of company as he headed to T2 with Luke Willian and Sam Appleton within five seconds, while Caleb Noble led a group of four about 30 seconds back.
It didn’t take long on the bike before Amberger and Appleton started to ride clear of the rest the men by halfway through the bike the pair were over two minutes ahead of a group that included Steven McKenna, Luke Willan and Caleb Noble, with Tim van Berkel leading a group of six that were just over three minutes down on the leaders.
Appleton and Amberger hit T2 together, with Appleton starting the run 13 seconds up and McKenna and Willan beginning the 21.1 km run 3:44 down.
Appleton would hang on through the rest of the run to take the win in 3:41:15. Over the last few km of the run McKenna made a huge move and, with just over 1 km to go had caught up to Amberger, and surged by to take second in 3:43:11. Amberger would round out the podium in 3:43:43.
