Jackie Hering flies to huge win at Ironman Hamburg as race favourite DQd on the bike
Disqualications, crashes, flat tires and lots more drama at the Ironman European Championship
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Ironman
American Jackie Hering took what is possibly the biggest win of her career at the Ironman European Championship in Hamburg today. The American was unstoppable as she flew through a 2:52 marathon split to win her first Ironman race since 2015, the year she finished fourth at Ironman Mont-Tremblant. In 2013 she won Ironman Wisconsin.
France’s Julie Iemmolo led the women out of the water with Great Britain’s Fenella Landridge on her heels, roughly three minutes up on a pack that included Hering, Denmark’s Maja Stage Nielsen and Great Britain’s Kat Matthews.
There was lots of drama on the bike – here are a few of the highlights:
- Matthews would have to stop on the bike as her BTA (between the arms) hydration system came off.
- Sweden’s Sara Svensk would go down and collide with Belgian Els Visser.
- Matthews would get back into the mix after her bottle issue, only to get disqualified for passing in a “no passing zone.” The classy Brit was quick to post on Instagram that she was at fault. “My own ‘heat of the moment’ mistake as the flashing red light has scarred me into immediate overtake mode,” she wrote. “Great race officiating out there today.”
- Visser, after having moved into second place, would get a flat with 30 km to go on the bike. As she tried to put air in her disc wheel, she realized that her CO2 adaptor wouldn’t fit, and she would eventually hit T2 11:13 down.
2 minutes separate first five off the bike
Langridge led the women off the bike, 26 seconds up on Germany’s Daniela Bleymehl, and about two minutes ahead of a group that included Iemmolo, Stage Nielsen and Hering, with Visser another nine minutes behind that group.
Through the first 10 km of the run Stage Nielsen and Hering were able to make up about a minute of the deficit, but then Hering made a decisive move to the front – 5 km later she was in the lead with Langridge and Bleymehl in second and third, and Stage Nielsen in fourth 29 seconds back. Through the halfway point of the run Stage Nielsen was able to close the gap to just 18 seconds, but that was as close as she would get.
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Hering flew through a 2:52:32 marathon split to finish in 8:19:14, with Stage Nielsen’s 2:55:45 split getting her a solid second as she finished in 8:21:54. Bleymehl would round out the podium in 8:28:09, with Langridge taking fourth in 8:29:36 and Visser finishing fifth in 8:32:45.
