American Taylor Knibb has completed a hat-trick of Ironman 70.3 world titles, cruising to victory by more than a minute in the women's division at Taupō.
Knibb was fifth out of the water on the 1.9km swim, trailling Spaniard Sara Perez Sala by 10 seconds, with Swiss Imogen Simmonds on her shoulder, but assumed control of the race early in the 90km bike. By 20km, she had opened a minute on Simmonds and Brit Kat Mtathews, as Aussie contender Ashleigh Gentle slipped back through the pack.
The American's lead over Simmonds off the bike was more than four minutes, with Matthews only 13 seconds behind and Gentle more than three minutes off the podium.
Matthews quickly gathered in Simmonds and set off after Knibb, whittling away at her advantage throughout the 21.1km run, but ran out of road to complete the catch, as the defending champion clocked 3h 57m 34s.
The Brit was 1m 15s behind, recording the half-marathon run split of 1h 15m 34s, while Gentle also ran down Simmonds about 6km from the finish to grab third.
First Kiwi home was Hannah Berry in 14th with 4h 10m 52s, with Rebecca Clarke 29th in 4h 20m 56s.
"I think I dragged the whole women's field off the [swim] course," chuckled Knibb. "I breath to the right and overcompensated a lot, so all of a sudden, the first buoy was 100 metres away.
"The bike course, you had no information, so you were just riding and I think I overrode a little bit, but the run course was amazing. There was no-one on the bike course, but everyone was on the run course.
"I don't think there was a step of the run course where you didn't have people supporting you and cheering. It was, like, 'Wow, this is an impressive community'."
Since her victory at Lahti, Finland, last year, Knibb finished 19th in the cycling time trial at the Paris Olympics, crashing three times in the process, and then overcame her injuries to finish 19th in the triathlon and anchor USA to silver in the team event.
"I'm very tired, it's very hot," she reflected. "It's a bit of a relief in many ways, but I'm also very grateful.
Tomorrow's race has added significance with pre-race nerves and anticipation building even amongst seasoned athletes.
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"It's really cool that, for the 70.3s, each one has been on a drastically different course on different continents."
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