Podium finishes at the Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship shake up the Ironman Pro Series standings

In the end, the race played out as many of us thought it would – there would be a breakaway group of three after the swim – Lauren Brandon (USA), Lotte Wilms (NED) and Rebecca Clarke (NZL). That group would have a few minutes lead on one of the pre-race favourites, Hannah Berry, while the defending champion, Kylie Simpson, would be way back after the swim. Berry would likely be close enough after the bike to eke out a win over Wilms – the two were arguably the best runners of the breakaway group.

And that’s how it pretty much went, although there was lots of additional drama to ensure that the race remained exciting right to the end.

Four months ago they almost amputated his foot. Today he won the Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship

Wilms leads out of the water

Lotte Wilms missed making the Olympics in the 4 x 200 m relay by just a few hundredths of a second, so she’s no slouch in the water, but it was still a bit of a surprise to see the Dutchwoman who now lives in Australia lead the way out of the water ahead of Brandon. The American is not only the course-record holder here, but she traditionally leads the way out of the water in any swim that doesn’t include Lucy Charles-Barclay.

The group of three (Clarke was third out) would remain ahead of Berry until 130 km into the bike – at that point Clarke dropped off the pace of the other two, and Berry would move into third, about two minutes behind the other two. By the end of the bike Wilms was in the lead, but just a second ahead of Brandon, with Berry hitting T2 just over a minute down.

Wilms and Brandon would hold Berry off for the first 9 km of the run, but by that point the Kiwi had moved to second and just over 1 km later was in the lead. From there she would never look back as she cruised to a marathon PB of 3:04:53 and an 8:44:31 finish. Wilms remained very much in the hunt, finishing just over two minutes down (8:46:53) thanks to a 3:08:32 marathon.

With 6 km to go Brandon had an 80-second lead over Simpson, who used the day’s fastest bike (4:41:18) and run (2:56:06) splits to overcome a 17:39 swim deficit to run her way into contention for a podium finish. Simpson would pass the American with just a few km to go to round out the podium (8:50:12 to 8:52:33). Since Berry, Wilms and Simpson all had already earned spots for the Ironman World Championship in Nice, Brandon would take the first of the four spots up for grabs for the pro women.

Clarke would take fifth (9:03:43) and the next qualifying slot, with Ireland’s Fiona Moriarty (9:05:53) also nailing a spot in sixth. Seventh would go to Japan’s Ai Ueda – the three-time Olympian would earn a Nice start thanks to her 9:06:50 finish.

Ironman Pro Series Standings

Thanks to her podium finish, Simpson now sits atop the Pro Series ranking thanks to her four races. She’s ahead of Fenella Langridge and Jackie Hering, who have both raced three times. Wilms and Berry are now fourth and fifth in the standings with only two races, putting them in a fantastic position to contend for the Ironman Pro Series overall title. A good finish in Nice coupled with two solid 70.3 performances would certainly put them in contention.

You can see the full standings here.

Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship Cairns – Women’s Results

1. Hannah Berry – 8:44:31
2. Lotte Wilms – 8:46:53
3. Kylie Simpson – 8:50:12
4. Lauren Brandon – 8:52:33
5. Rebecca Clarke – 9:03:43
6. Fiona Moriarty – 9:05:53
7. Ai Ueda – 9:06:50
8. Giorgia Priarone – 9:09:05
9. Kate Gillespie-Jones – 9:16:02
10. Meredith Hill – 9:27:03