Triathlon — Alexander, Wellington win Ironman Triathlon World Championships

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — Craig Alexander of Australia won the 2009 Ironman World Championship on Saturday, overtaking American Chris Lieto with five miles to go in the marathon to win his second straight championship in Kona. Alexander won the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run event in 8:20:21.

Chrissie Wellington won her third straight women’s title, cruising away to a new course record of 8:54:02 — nearly 20 minutes ahead of Australia’s Mirinda Carfrae. Wellington broke Paula Newby-Fraser’s mark of 8:55:28 set way back in 1992. “I never thought I’d come here and break Paula’s record,” Wellington said after the race. “She’s an absolute legend. I feel kind of guilty doing it. I had to dig so hard to do it.”

Alexander, became the first man to defend the overall title since Tim DeBoom did it back in 2002. “There were a lot of bad patches out there today. Last year to win was exciting, but this year was more rewarding. This year I had to work at it. I had to fight for every second,” said Alexander after the race.

Alexander came from behind to overtake Chris Lieto with about 5 miles left in the marathon. Leito had trained hard with top American runners Ryan Hall, Josh Cox and others to prepare for this year’s race, but his legs cramped and he was unable to keep pace with Alexander. At the end of the day, Alexander posted a marathon time of 2:48:05, whereas Lieto turned in a 3:02:35 on the run course.

Lieto pushed hard on the bike, passing 2005 champion Faris Al-Sultan just before reaching the 60-mile mark.
He pulled away as he made his way back to Kona, taking a 5 1/2-minute lead over Maik Twelsiek to start the run. TV commentators noted that Lieto was moving along the famous Queen K highway at speeds of close to 35 miles per hour at times.

“My run has been getting better,” Lieto explained after the race. “I was sad and surprised to hear I ran a 3:02. The last bit was really tough. Momentum-wise I felt like I really slowed down a lot coming out of the Energy Lab. When he (Craig Alexander) went by me I felt like I couldn’t go with him, but then I said to myself I had to. Then it felt like too much and I dropped back, but then I told myself I had to go again, so I bridged up again. But he was running about 10 seconds too fast per mile.”

Lieto concluded by saying, “I had a lot of bad patches today. I really want to be an example to my son, but I really want to be an example to everybody.”

Among other stand-out performances by Americans, Andy Potts turned in a blistering 47:45 swim and then ran a 2:52:15 marathon to take ninth place overall. He was the second place American finisher in 8:30:30.

Wellington in charge
32-year-old Chrissie Wellington was alone for much of the race. She easily beat last year’s winning time of 9:06:23 and in so doing break the long-standing record of eight-time winner Paula Newby-Fraser. Newby-Fraser’s time and placing at the time in 1992 was considered one of the most incredible athletic performances in the history of the sport.

Wellington became the third woman in the event’s 31-year history to win three straight, joining Newby-Fraser and Natascha Badmann.

She surged to the front with a dominating performance on the bike and opened up an 11-minute lead to start the run. Wellington began the bike in eighth place and quickly moved into second by the 10-mile mark, trailing Lucie Zelenkova. A few miles later, Wellington blew past Zelenkova along Queen Kaahumanu Highway for the lead and built a comfortable cushion over Canada’s Tereza Macel by the turnaround. After a bike split of 4:52:07, her lead grew to more than 17 minutes just 10 miles into the run. She sailed the rest of the way on foot, leaving the women fighting for second place and passing several men.

“I had a really good swim, for me, and I think that set me up for the rest of the race,” Wellington commented at the post-race press conference. “I was really happy when I came out in 54 minutes. I knew that the bike was the ace I had to play. I knew that I had to bike really hard.”

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