Gomez stretched out his stride on the downhill. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
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Another spectacular day in Chattanooga. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
A dock start is an unusual sight at an Ironman event, but at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship both men and women pros had a diving start. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Nearing the top of Lookout Mountain, Javier Gomez leads the chase group going after Olympian Ben Kanute Ironman 70.3 World Championship. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Great Britain’s Tim Don is also in the mix early on. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Australia’s Sam Appleton near the top of the climb. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Canada’s Brent McMahon on the climb. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Bermuda’s Tyler Butterfield turned in a 2:10:40 bike split. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Andi Dreitz of Germany on a climb. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
2016 champion Aussie Tim Reed trying to make it two in a row. He ultimately finished 14th. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
First out of the water and first off the bike Ben Kanute took a four-minute lead into T2 thanks to a very strong performance on the bike. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Kanute’s bike split was a blistering 2:08:11 on a tough course. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
German Maurice Clavel was in the mix all day. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Sebastian Kienle turned in a 2:07:46 bike split, but his deficit on the swim meant he came off the bike with work to do. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Javier Gomez pulled out all of the stops on the first lap of the run with a goal of just hanging on for the final lap. A strategy that worked!
XTERRA world champion Mauricio Mendez Cruz had a great performance finishing 12th. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Two-time 70.3 world champion Sebastian Kienle is going for a third championship. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Aussie Sam Appleton. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Tyler Butterfield on his way to a seventh-place finish. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
After running shoulder-to-shoulder with Kienle out of T2, Gomez picked up the pace to drop the two-time 70.3 world champion. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Although he faded to fifth, Kienle fought all the way. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Appleton, Don and Clavel fighting it out. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Gomez stretched out his stride on the downhill. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Kanute barely holds onto his lead here. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Gomez starts to get close to Kanute, who looked strong to the end. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
The most common view of Javier Gomez. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Tim Don pulled ahead leaving Sam Appleton and Maurice Clavel to battle on the run. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Gomez is the defending 70.3 world champion. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Javier Gomez is the 2017 Ironman 70.3 world champion! Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Ben Kanute finished 2nd, 1:22 behind Gomez to have his best race ever! Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Tim Don of the UK rounded out the podium. Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
Smiles and flowers all around! Photo: Paul Phillips/Competitive Image/@Compimagephoto
In what was the second of two days of competition in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Sunday, Javier Gomez Noya ran down fellow 1.2-mile (1.93km) swim leg leader Ben Kanute mid-way through the half-marathon leg (13.1 miles/21km) to claim his second Ironman 70.3 World Championship in a time of 3:49:45.
Showing his all-so-familiar smooth and steady pacing that has won him seven previous triathlon world titles, Gomez, who exited second out of the water to 2016 Olympian Kanute before losing time on the brutal 56-mile (90.1km) bike leg, needed a strong kick to rally more than four minutes behind pre-race contenders and pass Kanute after the American had led the first 3:21:50 of the race.
In the end, it was Gomez that crossed the line in first 1:21 over Kanute and 2:15 ahead of Ironman record holder Tim Don (GBR).
