Her race was done. Then her competitor convinced her to keep going to a podium finish
Dramatic day of racing in Spain sees home-country win and a remarkable display of sportsmanship
Photo by:
Ironman Lanzarote/ James Mitchell
Neither Els Visser (pictured above at Ironman Lanzarote in 2022) or Michelle Vesterby would end up winning Ironman Vitoria-Gasteiz this weekend, but the pair definitely stole the show. Visser for her gutsy performance, Vesterby for her camaraderie and support that helped Visser take third, one spot ahead of the Danish star.
The race in Vitoria-Gasteiz was a pro-women-only event, with a small field competing – just eight pro women finished.
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Visser would end up in T2 first, but her impressive bike ride came at a price. Unable to get into her small chainring, she had to grind up all the hills. So, despite setting a new bike course record and enjoying a lead of almost four minutes over Vesterby and over 10 minutes on Germany’s Svenja Thoes and Spain’s Gurutze Frades Larralde, Visser would come to a stop shortly past the 15 km mark of the run. Within 3 km her lead, which had shrunk to just three minutes over Frades Larralde, would become a 6:26 deficit. She stopped her watch and prepared to call it a day.
Then Visser then came upon Claus Vesterby, Michelle’s husband. He convinced her to try and keep going and “run easy towards the finish line.” Then Michelle ran by, and “basically gave me the same talk,” Visser said after the race.
Visser ran with Vesterby for a while, then pulled clear and would take third (9:09:00) behind Frades Larralde (8:46:18) and Germany’s Svenja Thoes (8:53:18).
The race can be added to Visser’s dramatic life story – in 2014 she survived a shipwreck in Indonesia.
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Vesterby would finish fourth (9:17:47) – the race marked an emotional return to Ironman racing after the birth of her second son, Hektor, last September.
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The first four women had already qualified for Kona, which meant that the two Kona slots rolled down to Spain’s Helene Alberdi (9:21:31) and Irelands Fiona Moriarty (9:26:51).
