From the start, she was already seen as the favorite for the victory, and that favorite role is exactly what she lived up to: Paula Findlay has just won Ironman 70.3 Pennsylvania by a wide margin, preventing an American celebration.
The Canadian top athlete actually started the day well; only three women came out of the water ahead of her, with Grace Alexander being the most prominent name. Together with Jenna Campbell and Emily Pincus, Alexander started the bike leg with about a one-minute lead over Findlay, but that gap was already closed in the first few kilometers. From that moment on, Findlay took the lead in the race, and although Alexander was able to stay with her for a short while, everyone was ultimately dropped after about fifty kilometers on the bike computer.
It bothered Findlay little, as she seemingly comfortably pushed through to T2, where she already had a lead of over three minutes on Alexander and more than 5:30 minutes on number three: Hannah Berry. Without too much stress, Findlay could therefore begin the half marathon.
Runs with little pressure often go best: that proved to be true in Findlay’s case as well. Her victory was never in jeopardy anywhere, and she ultimately ran to victory in a time of 4:12:25. In the absolute final phase, both Alexander and Berry fell off the podium: they were overtaken in the final kilometers by Lydia Russell and Grace Thek, who finished second and third respectively in 4:16:43 and 4:19:05.
