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Vesterby takes nail-biter at Ironman Lanzarote

Germany's Andi Boecherer tops in the men's race

Denmark’s Michelle Vesterby, who we featured in our “super mom” feature last year after she gave birth to son Markus in 2019 hung on for a 47-second win at Ironman Lanzarote today – in the close women’s race the top three were separated by just over two minutes. The men’s race wasn’t nearly as close as Germany’s Andi Boecherer topped a competitive men’s field, running his way to the title.

Vesterby was the first woman out of the water, closely followed by France’s Manon Genet and Justine Mathieux. Genet would power away on the bike, leading Vesterby into T2 by almost eight minutes, with Mathieux almost 15 minutes down and Great Britain’s Laura Siddall fourth into T2 30 seconds behind the Frenchwoman.

Genet would hang tough through the first 10 km of the run, but would fade dramatically over the next 10 km and would eventually drop out. Vesterby moved to the front, but her lead over Siddall was steadily shrinking. Through 34 km the gap was just over a minute, which Vesterby managed to stretch out by another 20 seconds over the next four km. Mathieux was also in the hunt, running about 30 seconds behind Siddall.

In the end Vesterby hung on for the win in 9:55:04, with Siddall taking second in 9:55:51 and Mathieux rounding out the podium in 9:57:16.

You can find results from the women’s race here.

Boecherer nails the run

Jan Frodeno’s training partner Nick Kastelein was first out of the water, but he had lots of company – France’s Antony Costes and Belgium’s Pieter Heemeryck were just a few seconds down, and about a minute behind was a big group that contained many of the pre-race favourites including Boecherer, South Africa’s Matt Trautman, Sweden’s Patrik Nilsson and Denmark’s Kristian Hogenhaug.

On the bike Hogenhaug powered to the front and hit T2 with a lead of 2:31 on Boecherer, with another German, Boris Stein, hitting T2 in third, 5:35 down and Trautman fourth at 11:29.

On the run Boecherer steadily moved to the front, taking the lead by the 10 km point and never looking back and taking the win in 8:34:11. Hogenhaug couldn’t hang on to the podium, getting passed by Stein (8:42:03) and Trautman (8:43:00) to end up fourth (8:45:55).

You can find results from the men’s race here.