Japan’s Ai Ueda just pulled off an incredible performance at Ironman 70.3 Waco. Ueda attacked during the run and didn’t let anyone get near her during that final discipline. Behind the Japanese athlete, America’s Sarah Bischop took second (+5:55) and France’s Julie Lemmolo, who had led most of the race, completed the podium (+8:44).
She may have been two minutes down to the swim leader, but Ueda was still out of the water in third place. On the bike, she moved up to second, but it was still Lemmolo who was leading the race. Ueda’s deficit remained at around two minutes.
Once her bike was racked, Ueda started to be a treat to Lemmolo, though. Halfway through the run, Lemmolo saw Ueda fly by. There was no touching the Japanese athlete anymore. Running 1:21:22 hours on the half-marathon, Ueda took the day. Lemmolo had to accept Bischop taking over too. While it was Bischop who finished in second place, Lemmolo had to settle for third.
