Chelsea Sodaro powers to first win since Kona ’22, another DNF for Javier Gomez at 70.3 Tasmania

American Chelsea Sodaro proved she’s ready to take on the very best in the sport as she gears up for the start of the Professional Triathletes Organisation T100 World Triathlon Tour as she cruised to an impressive win at Ironman 70.3 Tasmania. Australia’s Nick Thompson took the men’s race after early leaders (and pre-race favourites) Braden Currie and Javier Gomez  had to pull out of the race – Gomez due to a mechanical issue, while Currie’s day ended after a couple of crashes and a flat tire.

Sodaro impresses on the bike

While 2023 was a solid year of racing for the 2022 Ironman world champion, she never had a dominating performance like the one she put together on the Big Island the previous October. Things looked decidedly different during the rainy day in Tasmania, though. Sodaro was third out of the water behind swim leader, Belgian Hanne De Vet, who opened up a one minute gap on the field, and just two seconds behind Australia’s Grace Thek. By 10 km into the ride, though, the American was in front. Australian Sarah Crowley joined Sodaro at the front of the race and the two traded the lead for a while before the American pulled clear, hitting T2 with a lead of 1:15 over Thek, 1:50 over De Vet and 1:54 on Crowley.

Sodaro put together another of her trademark run performances (1:20:24 – the 11th fastest run split of the day overall) to easily take the win over Thek and De Vet.

“My swim start wasn’t awesome actually, it was a little choppier than I expected and eventually I got on Grace’s feet and tried to just stay composed and relaxed, that’s not my favourite conditions, but I got out of the water and realized that we weren’t too far back from the leaders and I’ve been working really hard on my bike this off season, so I wanted to race really well and ride my bike well, and I think I did that,” said Sodaro. “That may have been the first time ever that I’ve come off the bike in first, that was definitely a step in the right direction, and whenever I get on the run I’m just ready to go to work, I went out pretty hard on the first lap and I had the pleasure of running close to the men’s leader for a while and I was really impressed with his sportsmanship and grit, and I had a lot of fun which I don’t always have … this is actually my first win since Kona of 2022 so it feels like a bit of a monkey off my back and a great way to start the Ironman season.”

“It’s a super positive start to my season this year, I’ve loved being in this hemisphere, being out of the snow in Nevada where I live so I’m really trying to enjoy the process this year,” Sodaro continued. “Last year was tough for me, a lot of ups and downs and I lost some of the joy in my racing, so it’s exciting to be finding that again.”

Professional Women’s results:

1. Chelsea Sodaro – 4:18:59
2. Grace Thek – 4:23:30
3. Hanne De Vet – 4:26:40
4. Penny Slater – 4:26:58
5. Sophie Perry – 4:28:30
6. Sarah Crowley – 4:29:35
7. Regan Hollioake – 4:29:43
8. Laura Armstrong – 4:39:48
9. Melanie Daniels – 4:49:32

Nick Thompson takes wild men’s race

Things appeared to be back on track for Olympic silver medalist (not to mention five-time World Triathlon champion and two-time 70.3 world champ) Javier Gomez as he came out of the water in first place with multiple Ironman champ and Ironman World Championship St. George third-place finisher Braden Currie right behind. Those two would end up pulling out as Nick Thompson powered to the front of the race at the halfway point, with hometown hero Cameron Wurf right behind.

Multiple world champion Javier Gomez DQ’d after coach gives him mechanical support to fix his handlebars at race in New Zealand

Wurf, considered one of the sport’s premier cyclists, would also have some bad luck as he got a slow leak which slowed his normal drive to the front. Wurf’s tire went completely flat towards the end of the ride and the Ineos Grenadier would have to ride into T2 on the rim. Thompson would end up hitting T2 with a lead of almost six minutes on Wurf, with Australian Mitch Kibby another minute behind.

running 13 seconds faster than Wurf (1:18:41 to 1:18:54), Thompson would hold on for the win. Kibby’s 1:16:03 split was enough to move him to second.

“The first half of the swim was nice and the second half wasn’t great … thankfully I came out of the water and after transition was with Cam, and he kind of towed me through the technical section and then we caught Javier and Mitch and just pushed from there,” said Thompson. “Unfortunately for Cam he was riding really well, but had a slow leak, and then it went completely flat, so it would have been really interesting. I think we would have had a really good run battle if he didn’t have that bad luck, and then it was just hold on for dear life on the run.”

“I wasn’t feeling too flash, but it’s a tough bike course and I think everyone is feeling the same,” Thompson continued. “I actually got to run a lap or two with the lead female Chelsea, I was right behind her and it was really nice that she let me hang around, it was really nice to run with her, she’s a world champion, a year ago I never would have thought I’d be running with the world champion so that’s pretty cool.”

Professional Men’s results:

1. Nick Thompson – 3:54:10
2. Mitch Kibby – 3:58:07
3. Cameron Wurf – 4:00:01
4. Harison Wiles – 4:06:21
5. Jye Spriggs – 4:10:56
6. Michael Boult – 4:13:32
7. Mark Radziejewski – 4:15:24
8. Martin Ulloa – 4:18:06