The expectations weren’t as high as they would have been other years, but Daniela Ryf just proved everyone wrong as she claimed her fifth Ironman World Championship title, this time in St. George. The Swiss exited the water with quite a gap to the front, but on the bike she soon moved up. After riding together with Britain’s Kat Matthews for a while, she decided to put the hammer down and take off alone. Ryf created a lead of seven minutes and continued her surge on the marathon. Ryf crossed the line after 8:34:59 hours.