Records shattered at Ironman Lanzarote

On a day that featured possibly the best conditions ever seen at the famous race renowned as the world’s toughest Ironman, France’s Arthur Horseau powered through a record-setting run split to shatter the course record, taking the biggest win of his career at Ironman Lanzarote. Horseau’s run and overall records were just two of the fastest ever men’s performances seen at the 31st anniversary of the race – Australian Cameron Wurf also broke the bike course record.

Kona runner-up Sam Laidlow led the men out of the water and was in front for a good portion of the bike, but was passed about two-thirds of the way through the challenging bike course by Wurf, who blasted to a new bike course record – the Ineos Grenadiers World Tour rider broke Maik Twelsiek’s previous record (4:40:58) with his 4:37:57 clocking. Laidlow was in second off the bike, about 3:30 behind, with Nick Heldoorn in third (7:29 back) and Horseau fourth into T2, just over nine minutes behind the Aussie.

Laidlow would take the lead before the half-way point of the run, but then started to really struggle with cramps, eventually being forced out of the race. By then Horseau had charged towards the front, and was just 1:17 behind Wurf through 23 km of the run. The Frenchman continued to power through the marathon, running 2:39:20 as he shattered the previous course record (Timo Bracht’s 8:30:34 from 2011) by over eight minutes as he broke the tape in 8:22:31.

Heldoorn would follow in his father Frank’s footsteps – the elder Heldoorn took this title twice and finished on the podium in all six of his starts here in Lanzarote. Niek followed suit with a brilliant runner-up finish in 8:24:48, with Wurf rounding out the podium in 8:30:17, which also would have broken the course record were it not for the two European speedsters who got to the line ahead of him.

Stay tuned for more updates from Ironman Lanzarote.