Jan Frodeno reclaimed the IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion crown in blistering pace in Nelson Mandela Bay, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Also the 2015 IRONMAN 70.3 world champion, Frodeno who grew up in South Africa, set the pace at the front of the 1.9km swim (21:52), worked with Alistair Brownlee to stay at the pointy end of the 90km bike ride (2:28:04), and topped it off with by running a blistering 13.1 miles (1:06:33) to secure the victory in 3:36:30.
On Kings Beach, American Ben Kanute had led the 1.9km swim and gained a slight edge over Frodeno first out of water in 21:52. Right on his heels, the list of rivals were champions in their own right with Frodeno, Javier Gomez, Kiwi Braden Currie and Alistair Brownlee.
“I’m very happy, what a special day. To come here is special, and to perform in front of a home crowd is just epic. To be world champion is surreal. I was a little angry because Alistair and I did all the work on the bike. Somehow today I just had my running legs. I didn’t start celebrating until the last turn—I was just running for my life.” said Frodeno.
The rivalry remained heated onto the 90km bike route, with Kanute, Brownlee and Frodeno all rotating turns at the front, and Gomez and Appleton hanging close behind. Brownlee was eager to put on the chase in his debut in this IRONMAN 70.3 world championship, but could not shake his closest chasers.
Aussie Sam Appleton and Frodeno both clocked a 2:28:04 bike split—but Frodeno was first onto the run course. A hard-charging Brownlee closed the gap to the front within minutes of the run, overtaking Frodeno, but his lead was short lived.
In the second half of the 21km, Frodeno made his move overtaking Brownlee to record a 1:06:33 half marathon en route to the win (3:36:30). Brownlee finished a minute later in 3:37:41, with Gomez third in 3:38:26.
“I didn’t realize Javier was gone. I was running for my life and breathing so hard I didn’t hear anything myself.” – @janfrodeno talks about his Isuzu #IM703WC race. pic.twitter.com/AQijQuKRnk
— IRONMAN Triathlon (@IRONMANtri) September 2, 2018
Top 10 Men
Isuzu IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship
September 2, 2018
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
1 Jan FRODENO (#3) 03:36:30 Germany
2 Alistair BROWNLEE (#26) 03:37:41 +01:10 United Kingdom
3 Javier GOMEZ NOYA (#1) 03:38:26 +01:55 Spain
4 Ben KANUTE (#7) 03:42:43 +06:12 United States
5 Pieter HEEMERYCK (#16) 03:43:05 +06:34 Belgium
6 Sam APPLETON (#2) 03:43:57 +07:26 Australia
7 Adam BOWDEN (#22) 03:48:16 +11:46 United Kingdom
8 Braden CURRIE (#11) 03:49:16 +12:46 New Zealand
9 Michael WEISS (#6) 03:50:38 +14:07 Austria
10 Rodolphe VON BERG (#4) 03:51:35 +15:04 United States
Source: Ironman.com
