Make that Three: Mike Phillips Takes IRONMAN New Zealand

Course knowledge proved key at IRONMAN New Zealand today as Mike Phillips knew exactly the right time to make his move on the bike, opening up the winning gap as he headed into T2. The Kiwi star never looked back on his way to his third full-distance title in Taupo, setting a new course record in the process.

Lead Pack Swim and Bike

Benjamin Zorgnotti (born in France, but representing French Polynesia) led a group of eight out of the water. In that group you had pre-race-favourites Phillips, his countryman Jack Moody and Aussie Tim Van Berkel, while course-record holder (7:54:17 in 2020), Great Britain’s Joe Skipper, hit dry land 3:30 back.

The lead group was quickly trimmed to seven as Kiwi Matt Kerr was dropped early in the bike. By the time the group hit the halfway point they remained 3:53 ahead of Skipper. Over the second half of the ride France’s Arnaud Guilloux got dropped from the group, then Spain’s Mikel Ugarte Ramos found himself unable to keep up. As Skipper was finally getting close to the leaders, Phillips made a push over the final 20 km of the ride.

“I guess I know this course pretty well,” Phillips said after the race. “I know the return leg on the bike is pretty tough – headwind and slightly uphill. I tried to save a bit of energy for that and, as we were coming up the hill, I wasn’t really trying to pull away, I was just trying to keep the gap to the likes of Joe Skipper. Then I turned around and no one was there. I was happy to take a couple-of-minute lead starting the run.”

It wasn’t quite two minutes, but it was close – Phillips hit transition 1:39 up on Van Berkel, 1:41 ahead of Moody, 1:44 ahead of Pim Van Diemen (NED), with Skipper finishing the bike 2:20 back, eight seconds up on Zorgnotti.

Phillips, who holds the run course record in Taupo (2:40:04), lost a bit of ground to Moody through the first half of the run, but was still 1:20 ahead with 21 km to go. At that point Skipper remained 2:43 behind, with Zorgnotti just over four minutes back and Van Berkel sitting around five minutes behind the lead.

“Jack’s a phenomenal runner, so I had to keep my wits about me,” Phillips said of the marathon. “I pushed the pace during the first half just to keep the gap – I wasn’t too keen on running side by side with him.”

Phillips hung tough over the second half of the run and was able to hold his ground to take the win in 7:45:47 after a 2:40:52 marathon, shattering Skipper’s course record by over eight minutes. The drama came for the runner-up spot, though, as Skipper made up a deficit of exactly a minute to pass Moody in the final 5 km to take second in 7:48:47. The Brit would run the marathon exactly one second slower than Phillips. Moody would hang on for the final spot on the podium with his 7:49:12 finish (2:42:15 marathon).

Hometown Win

“This is our hometown IRONMAN,” Phillips said when asked what it means to have taken a third title. “The support here for the locals is crazy. The community gets behind us so strongly – there are so many local volunteers. To win at home in New Zealand is absolutely amazing.”

“The course here is pretty tough,” Phillips said when asked what enabled his success in Taupo. “We have rough roads here, which makes the bike pretty hard. I think a lot of the international athletes struggle a wee bit with that. It’s also in our summer time, which makes it easier for us to prepare and we don’t have to travel too far, which all works in the Kiwi’s favour, I guess.”

Phillips has registered for IRONMAN South Africa in a month, and as long as he recovers well over the next week or so that will be his next race. He’ll follow that up with the IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship in Cairns, where he finished third last year. All that’s with the goal of having a better day in Nice than he did in 2023 – that year he would end up dropping out.

“I’m excited to go back there and do a bit better than I did last time,” he said.

You can check out results through the IRONMAN Tracker.

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