Katrina Matthews took home the victory in dominating fashion at Ironman UK. An excellent swim, bike and run combination on a demanding course saw her brake the tape in a time of 9:40:01. Her compatriots Nikki Bartlett (GBR; 10:02:43) and Chantal Cummings (GBR; 10:10:33) joined the BMC athlete on the podium.
After her superb 2nd place in Ironman Tulsa, Katrina Matthews decided to toe the line in her home country. She started the race very well as she exited the water in 1st place, closely followed by Bartlett and Cummings. On the bike, Katrina suffered from a small mechanical issue that set her about 1’30 back at the 30k mark. With a total of almost 3000hm, there was plenty of time left to make up that deficit. And that she did. Just over the halfway point, Katrina took over the lead to never let that slip. After 122k, she had opened up a gap of 1’30 over second place and continued to extend that lead towards T2. After a 180k bike ride in proper English weather with a lot of rain, Kat racked her bike with an advantage of 6 minutes to start the marathon. From the start of the run the BMC athlete was in full control of her performance and kept a steady pace to extended her lead every kilometer. Halfway through the run, 2nd place was trailing her by 13 minutes. That enabled Matthews to cruise home and enjoy the final kilometers. Matthews broke the tape in a time of 9:40:01 to record the fastest swim, bike and run split. An excellent all-round performance and huge confidence boost towards Kona later this year.
Really pleased but that was very tough
Afterwards Katrina Matthews was really pleased with her perfromance and her ability to race a really tough course: “I was confident in my fitness going into the race from Tulsa, but I haven't been properly tested on a really challenging course and so I was really happy to be able to properly race the bike and enjoy it. On the run it was a real struggle for me with even more hills. A really hard day but I am so pleased to win on British soil and take the Supersapiens IM UK Title”.
Kristian Hogenhaug qualifies for Kona with a 4th place finish in Ironman Lanzarote
Kristian Hogenhaug finished 4th in IM Lanzarote and secured his qualification slot for Kona. The BMC athlete crossed the line in a time of 8:45:55. Andi Boecherer won the race (GER; 8:34:11) with Boris Stein (GER; 8:42:03) and Matt Trautman (RSA; 8:43:00) rounding out the podium.
Kristian Hogenhaug toed the line with one goal: securing a slot for Kona 2021. The day started with a solid swim for Kristian Hogenhaug. He exited the water in the first chase group and jumped on his bike with a deficit of about one minute over the leaders. On the hilly and windy bike course, Kristian felt strong straight away. The Danish athlete powered his way through the field and immediately opened up a gap of 20 seconds after 37k. In the first half of the bike, Hogenhaug kept extending his lead to a maximum of 6 minutes halfway through the bike. In back half of the bike course, it was Boecherer chasing down Kristian. With a bike split of 4:47:47 (second fastest split and only 11” slower than fastest bike split) Hogenhaug racked his bike as race leader and started the closing marathon with an advantage of 2’30 over Boecherer and 5’50 over Stein in 3rd.
Kona qualification secured
On the run, Kristian knew it would be a hard battle towards the finish line. Around 10k, the BMC athlete had to settle for 2nd as he ran his own pace. Another 15k further, Hogenhaug had an advantage of 2’10 over Stein, but that difference kept decreasing. With 7k to go, Kristian dropped back to 3rd place, with Trautman coming closer and closer. Giving his all towards the finish line, Hogenhaug eventually came home in 4th place in a time of 8:45:55. A fantastic performance with some serious watt bombs on the bike in one of the hardest races on the calendar. With his 4th place finish, Kristian succeeded in his pre-race goal and secured his Kona qualification, joining teammates Katrina Matthews, Max Neumann and Chris Leiferman who were already qualified.
