What was with all the records at Ironman Western Australia this year?
Fast bike splits set the stage for a record-setting day in Australia
Photo by:
Korupt Vision
Set in Busselton, a beach resort town in the south west region of province, Ironman Western Australia has long been renowned for its flat, fast course. All that got taken to a completely new level last weekend, though, as winners Daniel Baekkegard and Fenella Langridge blasted to new course records, while super-cyclist Lisa Norden set a new full-distance bike course record, breaking Daniela Ryf’s mark set on the way to her world-best time in Roth last June.
Beakkergard finished the race in 7:34:23 (47:32/ 4:03:55/ 2:37:43), breaking the course record (7:45:20) set by Alistair Brownlee in 2019, which Max Neumann missed by just a second last year. Near-perfect wind conditions made for fast bike legs, setting the stage for Baekkegard’s record-setting day.
“The guys took it out pretty quick on the swim so I decided to save some energy there, and then we just went from the gun basically also on the bike,” Baekkegard said after the race. “It was pretty big group we had leading out and I decided 60 km in to put the hammer down and try to separate the group a little bit, I think that worked pretty well and from there it was just basically racing. From there, 120 km in I found myself in the lead alone and in the last couple of k’s Matt Burton came around me and went first into the transition.
“On the run I just took off, basically I just ran as fast as I could and I had a little bit of an eye on the record here,” Baekkegard continued, “I know Ali (Brownlee) has it and he’s kind of an icon in the sport and Maxxy (Neumann) was one second away from it last year so definitely wanted to beat it here and I think I did an ok job doing that.”
Langride takes the win, Norden sets new bike standard
Great Britain’s Fenella Langridge took her first Ironman title in 8:29:43, breaking the old course record by nine minutes. Langridge had to catch the Lisa Norden on the run course after the Swede set a new bike standard with her 4:21:15 bike split. That breaks the record set by Daniela Ryf at Challenge Roth last year (4:22:56) – the Swiss star would follow her incredible ride with a new world-best time of 8:08:21.
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It’s hardly a surprise that Norden would be ready to rip through the bike course – she’s a multiple Swedish national time trial champion and has even won her country’s national road championships.
Norden wasn’t able to hang on for the overall win, though, as Langridge managed to run her way to the title.
“Did I burn a match? Maybe. Was it worth it? Totally,” Norden would post on Instagram after the race.
Langridge who’s record setting day included a 51:07 swim, a 4:29:42 bike split and a 3:03:52 run – the day’s fastest, was quick to praise Norden for her impressive ride.
“I’m absolutely stoked, it was one of the best days ever,” Langridge said. “The race panned out pretty much perfectly where I led out of the swim, just, I was swimming with Lotte (Wilms) the whole way and I went to work on the bike, I knew I had to be patient and a flat course can often really bite you in the bum right at the end so I stayed patient. I tried to stick to more speed over power and just rode my own race knowing Lisa did an absolutely phenomenal bike and got the bike world record, which is absolutely insane, well done Lisa.”
“Then I had to stay patient on the run and know that hopefully Lisa over-biked and that I’d be able to catch her, and I did with one lap to go,” Langridge continued. “You never know you’ve got that win until that last 20 metres, until you’re running down that chute.”
Ironman Western Australia Final Results
PRO MEN
- Daniel Bækkegård – 7:34:23
- Matt Burton – 7:40:28
- Nick Thompson – 7:48:23
- Steve McKenna – 7:54:32
- Scott Steenberg – 7:56:34
- Aichlinn O’Reilly – 7:59:04
- Caleb Noble – 8:06:31
- Kaito Tohara – 8:11:39
- Jack Sosinski – 8:16:31
- Harry Sinclair – 8:17:14
PRO WOMEN
- Fenella Langridge – 8:29:43
- Lisa Norden – 8:33:02
- Lotte Wilms – 8:40:59
- Els Visser – 8:50:13
- Chloe Lane – 8:55:04
- Maki Takahashi – 9:28:20
- Camille Deligny – 9:35:05
- Marion Tuin – 10:00:20
