World Champs Impress At Ironman 70.3 Boise

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Ironman World Champion Craig Alexander and Ironman 70.3 World Champion Julie Dibens proved once again that they are two of the best in the world. Alexander rode with one of the sport’s fastest cyclists, Chris Lieto, and ultimately ended up holding off Ben Hoffman for the win. Dibens, who was coming off of a disappointing performance at last week’s Rev3 Quassy Triathlon, dominated from wire-to-wire, ultimately finishing 15th overall.

The afternoon started with New Zealand’s Graham O’Grady leading the men out of the swim with a time of 22:50. The second group included American Brian Flesichmann and New Zealander Bryan Rhodes. Alexander and Lieto were fifth and sixth respectively out of the water, with Alexander holding a 50-second lead over last year’s Kona runner up. As is usually the case when Lieto races, he found his way to the front of the bike race. Instead of letting Lieto build on a lead, Alexander went with Lieto and the two ultimately headed into T2 within seconds of each other. Alexander quickly passed Lieto and worked to keep those with fresh legs behind him. Hoffman put in a challenge for the title, but was unable to catch the world champ. Alexander crossed the finish line in 4:02:01. One interesting thing to note is that Alexander’s winning time was more than ten minutes off of his winning time last year. This is evidence of the dramatically warmer and drier conditions today. Hoffman turned in a time of 4:02:21 to claim second, with Australia’s Tim Berkel finishing third at 4:08:08. Lieto ultimately withdrew from the race on the run course.

In the women’s race, Dibens took advantage of the fact that she was the only strong swimmer and headed into T1 with an 80-second lead over the next contender. Her lead continued to grow from there as she took to her strongest leg of triathlon, the bike. Dibens turned in a 2:24:17 bike split, a time that was nearly six minutes faster than her next competitor. The combined gap from the swim and bike gave Dibens a dominating lead heading onto the run. Dibens cruised through the half marathon to win in 4:25:14. American Linsey Corbin replicated her finish at last week’s Ironman 70.3 Kansas, finishing second in 4:29:22. Dibens’ Trek/K-Swiss teammate Heather Jackson rounded out the top-three at 4:34:58.

Ironman 70.3 Boise
Boise, Idaho – June 12, 2010
1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run

Men
1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 4:02:11
2. Ben Hoffman (USA) 4:02:21
3. Tim Berkel (AUS) 4:08:08
4. Matt White (AUS) 4:08:40
5. Jamie White (NZL) 4:08:56

Women
1. Julie Dibens (GBR) 4:25:14
2. Linsey Corbin (USA) 4:29:22
3. Heather Jackson (USA) 4:34:58
4. Christine Fletcher (CAN) 4:42:42
5. Kate Major (AUS) 4:44:50

Check back this evening for a photo gallery from the event.
Click here for complete results.