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Holly Lawrence and Adam Bowden win Ironman 70.3 Dubai

February 1, 2019
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Ironman 70.3 Dubai was set to be a showdown between Alistair Brownlee (GBR) and Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR). And then, it was announced at the pre-race press conference that Brownlee would not be competing.

“The show must go on,” and there was a highly anticipated rematch in the women’s race to watch.

Related: Getting ready for the showdown in Dubai

On the women’s side, it was once again a battle between Holly Lawrence (GBR), Anne Haug (GER) and Sarah Lewis (GBR). Lawrence came out of the water with a minute and a half lead over second place, and two and a half minutes over Haug. Lewis was further back, three and a half minutes behind Lawrence.

Lawrence then used her strength on the bike to extend her to nearly six minutes on Haug.

The previous year, Lawrence and Haug were in a similar position heading onto the run -Lawrence out in front and Haug within striking distance. Once again, in 2019, Haug was running faster than anyone else and gaining on Lawrence, but she couldn’t pull back the 2016 Ironman 70.3 world champion. Lawrence took the win in 4:00:04, 1:38 ahead of Haug. Lewis finished third, nine minutes behind Lawrence.

  1. Holly Lawrence (GBR) – 4:00:04
  2. Anne Haug (GER) – 4:01:42
  3. Sarah Lewis (GBR) – 4:09:39

On the men’s side, Blummenfelt appeared to be in a position to challenge for the win, but withdrew from the race after suffering muscle cramps early in the bike.

It was then a five-man race coming into T2 with Johann Ackermann (GER) leading Adam Bowden (GBR), Patrick Nilsson (SWE), Sébastien Fraysse (FRA) and Eric Watson (BAH).

Bowden ran down Ackermann out of T2 and quickly opened up a gap on the German. Nilsson moved into second, and the two were well ahead of the rest of the field with a two-minute gap separating Bowden and Nilsson.

Bowden took the win in 3:40:11. Nilsson followed in second, and Fraysse edged out Ackermann by less than 30 seconds to take third.

  1. Adam Bowden (GBR) – 3:40:11
  2. Patrick Nilsson (SWE) – 3:42:50
  3. Sébastien Fraysse (FRA) – 3:47:05