Kylie Simpson shatters the course record at the Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship
Australian star takes second Aussie Ironman event of 2023, setting up the opportunity to achieve the "Triple Crown"
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
Cairns was the site of her first Ironman race in 2020. It was also the site of her first Ironman win, in 2021. Today Kylie Simpson took her fourth Ironman title (she won Ironman Western Australia in 2021, then took Ironman Australia last month), but didn’t just take the win – she dominated the event, shattering the course record by over seven minutes.
Trails by over 12 minutes after the swim
Radka Kahlefeldt and Sarah Crowley came out of the water together, well ahead of the rest of the women in the field. Simpson had, for her, a good swim, but was still over 12 minutes behind starting the bike.
“I think that was a PB swim for me, conditions were the best I’ve ever had in Cairns,” said Simpson. “It’s always choppy but better than the last three years so yeah, I swam better than I ever have here.
Kahlefeldt and Crowley would work together at the front of the bike, but Simpson would steadily gain time on the pair, hitting T2 just seconds behind.
“I just got on the bike and just put my head down and got into a rhythm and just took as much time out of the girls as I could,” Simpson said of her quick bike. “I knew I was chipping into them, I didn’t know that I was on course for the record so that’s a little bonus.”
Once on the run Simpson quickly moved to the front and dominated through the rest of the race.
“Coming into T2 and all of us in that change tent together, that was a good moment to realise how close we were and I knew that they can both run well, they’re both champions and I knew what I was up against,” Simpson said. “Sarah’s won here multiple times, she’s been on the podium at Kona, Radka’s been to the Olympics so I knew that I couldn’t let them get away so I had to put as much time into them as I could.”
Simpson came to the sport from a running background, and used her run strength to dominate the rest of the day. Crowley, still suffering the effects of two broken ribs and a broken sternum sustained at a race five weeks ago, would start to suffer just before the halfway point and eventually fade to fourth.
5 weeks ago Sarah Crowley broke two ribs and her sternum. Somehow she’s still racing in Cairns
Kahlefeldt used a strong run to get passed Crowley for second, as did another Aussie, Penny Slater, who had finished fourth twice here in Cairns. Needless to say, Slater was thrilled with her podium finish.
Last year Crowley became the first person to win the Australian Ironman “Triple Crown,” taking Ironman Australia, the event in Cairns and Ironman Western Australia. Now Simpson is in a position to duplicate that feat.
Here’s the pro women’s race results:
- Kylie Simpson – 8:40:53
- Radka Kahlefeldt – 8:58:49
- Penny Slater – 9:05:50
- Sarah Crowley – 9:25:00
- Kate Gillespie-Jones – 9:29:01
- Emily Donker – 9:34:52
- Laura Brown – 9:46:30
- Sarah Thomas – 10:00:59
