Raelert, Van Vlerken Take Ironman 70.3 Germany
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Germany’s Michael Raelert continued to prove his domination of the half-ironman distance with a win at today’s Ironman 70.3 Germany event.
Raelert exited fourth out of the swim and turned in a solid bike performance to head onto the run behind only the sport’s fastest cyclist in Bjorn Andersson. Once on the run, Raelert shined with a 1:15:33 half marathon to take the 4:03:47 victory. Another German, Sebastian Kienle, also had a stellar day, finishing second. Andersson showed improvement in his run performance and was able to hang on for third.
Despite spending much of the day making up for a slow swim, the Netherlands’ Yvonne Van Vlerken came out on top thanks to a fast bike/run combination. American Desiree Ficker kept pace with Van Vlerken throughout the day, but came up just short and settled for second. The top German finisher in the women’s competition was Kristin Möller in third.
Ironman 70.3 Germany
August 15, 2010 – Wiesbaden/Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, Germany
1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run
Men
1. Michael Raelert (GER) 4:03:48
2. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 4:05:55
3. Björn Andersson (SWE) 4:09:09
4. Felix Schumann (GER) 4:09:22
5. Boris Stein (GER) 4:10:35
Women
1. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 4:41:52
2. Desiree Ficker (USA) 4:42:15
3. Kristin Möller (GER) 4:43:10
4. Nicole Hofer (SWI) 4:44:27
5. Julia Wagner (GER) 4:45:16