Max Neumann made it three straight Ironman Cairns victories in a row. The BMC Pro Triathlete overhauled Ironman World Championship third Braden Currie deep into the marathon before powering to victory in a blistering winning time of 7:52:54. Currie (NZL; 7:55:10) finished second, with Sam Appleton (AUS; 8:05:34) completing the podium. With his victory Neumann also secured his Kona qualification and becomes the 4th BMC Pro athlete to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in October later this year.
Max started with an excellent swim. The defending champion exited the water as race leader together with Appleton, Currie and Jacobs. Four became three on the bike as Jacobs dropped away. Neumann kept riding attentively in the lead group and entered T2 a handful of second behind the lead.
In the opening stages of the marathon it was Currie who was setting the fastest pace. At the halfway point his advantage over the BMC Pro athlete was more than two minutes. But things started to change dramatically approaching the 30k mark. Max kept running incredibly well and caught the race leader with just under 10k to go. From that point on Neumann never looked back and powered to victory thanks to a best-of-the-day 2:41:13 marathon. Max crossed the finish line in a winning time of 7:52:54 to add to his 2020 and 2021 successes.
Afterwards Neumann reflected on his magnificent performance: "It was a very special day. Everything flowed and felt unbelievable. I stuck to our plan and it payed off. On the bike Appleton was riding absolutely crazy when he went to the front. Me and Curry tried to hang on. I tried to play it smart and didn't do too much work into the headwind. It did pay off for me in the past. The run felt very comfortable. I paced it as I had a plan to run around 3'47/km for the marathon. I thought Currie was on a ripper day as I wasn't catching up quickly. But all of a sudden I was able to make the pass and run the victory home. I also want to say a special thank you to the team and all our sponsors. Thanks for everything they do, none of what we do as athletes would be possible without their passion and commitment, I really appreciate it".
