Marten Van Riel blasts to Bahrain 70.3 win
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Alistair Brownlee flats with 5 km to go on the bike
After struggling with injuries over the last two years, Belgian Marten Van Riel closed out the 2023 season in style with a big win at today’s Ironman 70.3 Bahrain event.
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The Belgian won 70.3 Dubai in early 2022, then took 12th at a pair of WTCS races before losing the rest of the season to injury. This year he wasn’t able to start racing until November after crashing on his bike during practice for the PTO Open. He won Ironman 70.3 Fortaleza in November and then wraps up  his season with the big win in Bahrain.
Van Riel utilized a very WTCS-like strategy in the race, staying at or near the front throughout the day. Fifth out a group of eight that led the way out of the water behind Germany’s Wilhelm Hirsch, Van Riel led the lead group that included Alistair Brownlee through the bike. Brownlee flatted just 5 km short of T2, and it was Van Riel who entered T2 first, just ahead of Hirsch. The German would beat Van Riel out onto the run course, but it wasn’t long before Van Riel was out in front.
Through the halfway point of the run Van Riel was alone in front with 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Henri Schoeman (RSA) running in second about a minute behind, with Hirsch another 10 seconds back. Van Riel would continue to power away, eventually taking the win in 3:31:21, 1:28 ahead of Schoeman (both ran exactly the same split – 1:10:06) and 2:58 up on Great Britain’s Max Stapley (3:34:20), who rounded out the podium.
