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Ironman South Africa 2017 – Analyzing Results

Race Conditions

Even if it was hot and windy, the conditions were quick this year: An adjustment of 8:21 was about five minutes quicker than last year which had been pretty typical for South Africa.

The winning time by Ben Hoffman of 7:58:40 was the first sub-8 finish ever in South Africa – even with the course changes last year this was a great new course record (the old fastest time was 8:05 by Raynard Tissink from 2011). Ben also posted a new run course record of 2:42:52, improving on the 2007 time by Gerrit Schellens. Nils Frommhold was also under both old course records, but was just a touch slower than Ben.

On the female side both Daniela and Kaisa finished sub-9 and were clearly under last year’s winning time, but the course records are still held by Chrissie Wellington from her 2011 win in 8:33 (including a 4:45 bike and a 2:52 marathon).

Male Race Results

As expected Cameron Wurf was leading on the bike, but when he lost some of his advantage towards the end of the bike leg, it was clear that he’d have a hard time to hold on to his lead on the run. Defending champion Ben Hoffman quickly went to the front on the marathon and even though Nils Frommhold was running strong and didn’t let Ben get away too far, he was never able to completely close the gap. In the end, Ben won by 50 seconds over Nils. Third place went to David McNamee who had the best run of the athletes in the second bike chase group, closely followed by South African Kyle Buckingham and Jan Van Berkel who were both having great days including strong marathons.

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to exp. Prize Money KPR Points
1 Ben Hoffman USA 00:49:14 04:22:33 02:42:52 07:58:40 -19:14 US$ 30,000 4000
2 Nils Frommhold GER 00:49:05 04:22:31 02:43:43 07:59:30 -12:12 US$ 15,000 3400
3 David McNamee GBR 00:49:09 04:28:45 02:45:36 08:07:31 -10:07 US$ 8,000 2890
4 Kyle Buckingham ZAF 00:49:15 04:28:38 02:47:09 08:08:58 -21:27 US$ 6,500 2455
5 Jan Van Berkel SUI 00:49:12 04:28:41 02:50:46 08:12:35 -22:21 US$ 5,000 2090
6 Boris Stein GER 00:53:57 04:23:49 02:54:05 08:16:12 -00:48 US$ 3,500 1670
7 Frederik Van Lierde BEL 00:49:05 04:28:32 02:57:02 08:19:10 07:18 US$ 2,500 1335
8 Giulio Molinari ITA 00:49:07 04:28:34 02:59:16 08:21:09 01:25 US$ 2,000 1070
9 Andrej Vistica CRO 00:53:53 04:34:43 02:50:01 08:23:21 -09:20 US$ 1,500 855
10 James Cunnama ZAF 00:49:10 04:28:47 03:02:46 08:24:42 -01:34 US$ 1,000 685
11 Cameron Wurf AUS 00:49:13 04:20:11 03:11:44 08:25:31 -31:04 515
12 Joe Skipper GBR 00:53:59 04:32:04 02:57:57 08:28:46 04:13 385
13 Evert Scheltinga NED 00:49:12 04:28:40 03:08:59 08:31:04 n/a 290
14 Eneko Llanos ESP 00:49:19 04:28:31 03:11:44 08:34:15 16:35 215
15 Mario De Elias ARG 00:53:58 04:34:47 03:03:29 08:36:22 -07:15 160
16 Johann Ackermann GER 00:49:06 04:34:37 03:07:56 08:39:44 13:12 120
17 Roman Deisenhofer GER 00:49:18 04:33:46 03:15:34 08:43:30 -01:00 90
18 Josh Amberger AUS 00:48:02 04:29:29 03:23:11 08:44:41 n/a 70
19 Diego Van Looy BEL 01:05:44 04:46:28 02:51:42 08:49:32 09:01 50
20 Erik-Simon Strijk NED 00:53:54 04:34:39 03:27:10 09:00:36 21:10 40
21 Gerhard De Bruin ZAF 00:55:46 04:53:50 03:13:00 09:07:31 -16:55 25
22 Freddy Lampret ZAF 00:55:50 04:53:26 03:58:22 09:52:28 42:16 25
23 Emanuele Ciotti ITA 00:53:56 04:58:15 03:54:46 09:53:08 32:22 25
24 Petr Vabrousek CZE 01:00:07 05:41:27 03:11:04 09:59:52 54:39 25
25 Valentin Zasypkin RUS 01:12:27 05:23:03 03:33:42 10:13:45 -32:17 25
Carlos Aznar Gallego ESP DNF
Christian Kramer GER 00:49:10 04:37:07 DNF
Jens Petersen-Bach DEN 00:49:11 04:42:34 DNF
Fredrik Baeckson SWE 00:56:28 04:46:25 DNF
Balazs Csoke HUN 00:49:02 04:55:57 DNF
Greg Close USA 00:59:42 04:56:49 DNF
Harry Wiltshire GBR 00:48:05 05:17:49 DNF
Ivan Risti ITA 00:49:11 DNF
Vinicius Canhedo BRA 00:53:51 DNF
Victor Del Corral ESP 00:53:55 DNF
Toumy Degham FRA 00:54:00 DNF
Bekim Christensen DEN 01:05:14 DNF

Female Race Results

When Daniela Ryf was second out of the water (same time as Kate Comber) it looked like another start-to-finish win for her. But then Kaisa Lehtonen, Susie Cheetham and Julia Gajer were able to overtake her and build a two-minute lead towards the 90k mark. After the race Daniela revealed that she had back issues and almost didn’t start. After about three hours the pain eased and Daniela was able to take the lead in the second half of the bike, posting the fastest bike split of the day. She also posted a 2:57 marathon – the fastest run of the day – and won in 8:47. Kaisa Lehtonen also had a strong run and though she was five minutes back it never looked as if Daniela could just cruise home. Kaisa improved on her winning 9:06 finish from last year by more than 14 minutes. Third place went to Susie Cheetham who finished on the podium for the third time in three years of racing South Africa. When Julia Gajer started to struggle on the run (she had to dig deep to at least be able to finish the race), there were eight athletes within a few minutes close to the finish line – in the end there were five minutes between 4th and 11th place. Astrid Stienen had the most even race, she rode a 5:01 and was able to run a 3:16 marathon, just 22 seconds in front of Gurutze Frades in fifth.

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to exp. Prize Money KPR Points
1 Daniela Ryf SUI 00:53:48 04:50:50 02:57:27 08:47:02 06:07 US$ 30,000 4000
2 Kaisa Lehtonen FIN 00:55:29 04:53:03 02:59:10 08:52:26 -12:17 US$ 15,000 3400
3 Susie Cheetham GBR 00:53:56 04:57:43 03:08:36 09:04:49 -02:43 US$ 8,000 2890
4 Astrid Stienen GER 01:01:07 05:01:42 03:16:52 09:24:37 05:58 US$ 6,500 2455
5 Gurutze Frades Larralde ESP 01:00:37 05:11:20 03:08:02 09:24:59 -16:30 US$ 5,000 2090
6 Katja Konschak GER 00:53:57 05:09:48 03:15:01 09:25:40 -16:42 US$ 3,500 1670
7 Alexandra Tondeur BEL 00:58:37 05:08:06 03:13:09 09:26:29 -06:12 US$ 2,500 1335
8 Jeanne Collonge FRA 00:59:47 05:04:58 03:16:09 09:27:18 -12:03 US$ 2,000 1070
9 Nikki Bartlett GBR 00:58:40 05:03:09 03:19:59 09:27:49 -14:47 US$ 1,500 855
10 Katharina Grohmann GER 01:10:04 05:05:47 03:08:56 09:29:20 -19:07 US$ 1,000 685
11 Ariane Monticeli BRA 00:58:45 05:13:11 03:11:48 09:29:27 -06:42 515
12 Kate Comber GBR 00:53:48 05:15:47 03:31:24 09:47:44 01:57 385
13 Manon Genet FRA 00:58:44 05:03:36 03:42:29 09:50:32 n/a 290
14 Diane Luethi SUI 00:58:34 05:17:12 03:31:51 09:52:50 05:41 215
15 Lina-Kristin Schink GER 01:11:31 05:24:17 03:14:13 09:54:47 -06:42 160
16 Julia Gajer GER 00:53:54 04:55:58 04:00:13 09:55:08 47:56 120
17 Jenny Fletcher CAN 00:58:41 05:20:59 03:33:14 09:59:27 12:01 90
18 Steph Corker CAN 01:01:41 05:27:35 03:28:32 10:04:18 n/a 70
Natascha Schmitt GER 00:58:43 05:15:21 DNF
Kristin Moeller GER 01:06:23 05:09:18 DNF
Dimity-Lee Duke AUS 00:58:37 05:25:19 DNF
Danielle Mack USA 01:06:12 05:34:36 DNF
Carolin Lehrieder GER 00:58:29 DNF
Kirsty Jahn CAN 00:58:33 DNF
Annah Watkinson ZAF 00:58:39 DNF
Helena Herrero Gomez ESP 01:09:05 DNF

Kona Qualifying

The points from IM South Africa allowed a number of athletes to improve their chances for Kona qualifying.

Male Slots

The following athletes have secured their Kona slots:

  • Ben Hoffman (Automatic Qualifier as a Regional Champion)
  • Frederik Van Lierde (Automatic Qualifier as a previous Kona champion, he had already validated)
  • Boris Stein (safe with 5.920 points)
  • David McNamee (safe with 4.790 points)
Nils Frommhold is on the bubble, another 70.3 race should be enough to secure the remaining points he still needs. Kyle Buckingham needs at least another 500 points, he probably needs another Ironman race.

Female Slots

The following athletes have secured their Kona slots:

  • Daniela Ryf (Automatic Qualifier as a previous Kona champion and winner of a Regional Championship)
  • Kaisa Lehtonen (safe with 9.495 points)
  • Astrid Stienen (safe with 5.495 points)

Susie Cheetham has improved her total to 3.480 points, she will likely have to race another Ironman to secure a Kona slot.

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