Matthews and Van Riel Excellent in Elsinore

An incredible first half of the run separated Great Britain’s Kat Matthews from the rest of the field today, while Marten Van Riel took his sixth-straight 70.3 race thanks to a record-setting performance at the IRONMAN Pro Series race in Elsinore, Denmark.

Matthews found herself in chase mode from the gun as a group of seven led by Natalie Van Coevorden surged through the swim, with the Aussie first out in 24:15 with Fenella Langridge (GBR), Lena Meißner (GER), Marta Sanchez (ESP), Lotte Wilms (NED), Hanne De Vet (BEL) and Luisa Jogna Prat (ITA) all within eight seconds. Matthews was tenth out of the water, 1:48 down, while local favourite Katrine Christensen was 17th out of the water, 3:52 behind. The Dane would face another challenge after the swim – she grabbed her bike before she put her helmet on, so would have to serve a penalty.

Wilms charged to the front of the bike early on, with De Vet, Meißner and Sanchez staying close, but the big mover on the bike was Christensen, who blasted by Matthews and joined the front group with Wilms, De Vet, Sanchez and De Vet into T2. France’s Audrey Merle was next in, 34 seconds down, with Mattews hitting transition just under three minutes down.

Once on the run, though, Matthews found another gear, running with the pro men she found on course through the first eight km, hitting the 8.4 km timing point in a blazing 28:32, which put her next to Christensen in the lead. From there the only woman to have ever won the IRONMAN Pro Series put things into cruise control and eased clear for a 35-second win over Christensen, with Meißner taking third, 1:58 behind.

Van Riel almost ran into a jet ski off the start, but was able to regroup and stay in the lead group out of the water. Germany’s Hannes Butters led the group of seven in 21:47 that included Jamie Riddle (RSA), Ben Faeh (SUI), Ollie Turner (GBR), Van Riel, Fraser Minnican (GBR) and Valdermar Solok (DEN).

Once on the bike the day quickly became the Van Riel and Solok show as the two flew clear of the field – at 40 km they were a minute up on Riddle and Butters, and even the fast-riding Kristian Høgenhaug (DEN) wasn’t able to make a dent in their lead – he was 2:13 down at that point. By the end of the ride the pair were 2:18 up on France’s Pierre Dupuy, with Høgenhaug at 2:24, Riddle at 2:28, Faeh at 2:30 and Butters 2:34 behind the leaders.

Solok kept Van Riel honest through the first six or so kilometres of the run, but eventually the Belgian star was able to pull clear and would fly through the run to set a new course record, crossing the line in 3:36:03. Solok held on to thrill the Danish crowd with second, while France’s Simon Viain used the day’s fastest run split to move to the final spot on the podium.

Van Riel remains unbeaten in 70.3 races, but most importantly now has his qualifying slot for the world championship in Nice.

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