Kastelein outruns Wurf to take Ironman Vitoria-Gasteiz title

Australians took the first two spots on the podium at the male-pro-only Ironman Vitoria-Gasteiz, with Jan Frodeno’s training partner Nick Kastelein running a 2:43 marathon split for his second Ironman win (he won Ironman Switzerland in 2017).

The race continues an impressive comeback for Kastelein, who fractured his pelvis in a bike crash in 2020. He now lives and trains in Girona, Spain, but actually lived in Vitoria at one point.

“Ten years ago I was having a coffee in Plaza España while watching the triathlon, and now I’ve won the Ironman here, I really can’t believe it,” he said after the race. “To be able to do an Ironman in this city, with all the people screaming and cheering, is completely different. Vitoria has something close to my heart, I have no words to express what this victory means to me.”

Kastelein led the pro men (the pro women’s race last weekend was in Switzerland) out of the water, but INEOS Grenadiers team member Cameron Wurf blasted through the bike and hit T2 with a ten-minute lead over Denmark’s Tobias Dahl Thomsen. Kastelein was well back starting the run, but used the day’s fastest marathon to pass Wurf and take a 39-second win over his countryman. Germany’s Dominik Sowieja rounded out the podium.

“At some moments I thought that the race was over for me, but the encouragement of the people, who were shouting my name and saying that I was going to win, made me say ‘I can’t give up,'” Wurf said after the race. “If I got here it was 100% thanks to the enthusiasm of the people of Vitoria.”

Both Kastelein and Wurf earned themselves qualifying slots for the Ironman World Championship in Kona in October.