NewsVanhoenacker and Preston win in Austria
A record field enjoys near perfect conditions at Karnten Ironman Austria.
Published Wednesday, December 31, 1969
Belgium's Marino Vanhoenacker and Australia's Rebecca Preston won the Karnten Ironman Austria event today after pulling away from the rest of their competition during the bike and staying ahead through the marathon as they both added another Ironman title to their resumes.
For Hoenacker today's victory was his second Ironman title in seven months - he won Ford Ironman Florida last year. For Preston today's win was her second in two weeks ... the talented Australian won her second Ironman title at Ironman Switzerland two weeks ago, and followed that up with an impressive win here today.
Preston came off the bike more than nine minutes ahead of Bowden, who looked great in her first Ironman since giving birth to son Tyson 10 months ago. Bowden quickly moved passed Hauke into second place, and appeared on her way to her third Ironman Austria title through the half-way point of the marathon.
Preston wasn’t ready to concede the win, though, and when her lead shrunk to 1:40, she managed to find another gear. Rather than lose time over the last 10km of the run, the gutsy Australian pulled away from Bowden, claiming the title with an impressive 9:12:09 performance that featured a marathon run that was six minutes faster than she needed for her win in Switzerland two weeks ago.
Advertisement
Hauke hung on for third, while Preston’s training partner Hillary Biscay finished fourth. Germany’s Nicole Best rounded out the top five.
Vanhoenacker’s race was nothing short of dominating. After a solid swim split of just under 48-minutes, he simply pulled away from some of the most talented cyclists in the sport during the ride, and gained even more time during the marathon.
His 4:27 bike split wasn’t as fast as those we’ve seen on the old three-loop bike course here in Klagenfurt, but it was more than enough to give him a five-minute lead over the men chasing behind him.
What’s possibly most amazing about Vanhoenacker’s bike split today was that it was enough to put him that far in front of Torbjorn Sindballe, the man who broke the bike course record in Kona last year. Sindballe came off the bike just ahead of Eneko Llanos, and both were about a minute ahead of Eneko’s brother Hektor Llanos-Burgera.
Sindballe tried gamely to stay ahead of the Llanos brothers, but eventually the two pulled away from the Dane. They never even threatened Vanhoenacker for the title today, though. Through each split the Belgian pulled further and further away from the Spaniards … and the rest of the field.
Vanhoenacker said after the race that he’d been focusing on this event for seven months. Now his next focus will be on Kona in another three. Disappointed with his two previous efforts there, he is determined to do well on the Big Island this year. His performance today certainly bodes well on that front.
In the end it was Hektor who got to the line ahead of Eneko in the battle of the Llanos brothers. Norbert Langbrandtner ended up leading the way in the always competitive battle of the Austrians here in Klagenfurt, finishing fourth ahead of countryman Werner Leitner.
You can check out our complete coverage by clicking on the link at the top of the page, or by going to the Ironman Austria page in the events section.
Men
|
Vanhoenacker Marino |
BEL
|
0:47:59/12.
|
01:44
|
4:27:07/5.
|
01:43
|
2:49:23/2.
|
08:07:59
|
|
Llanos-Burgera Hektor |
ESP
|
0:45:41/4.
|
02:10
|
4:36:45/8.
|
02:02
|
2:47:03/1.
|
08:13:43
|
|
Llanos Eneko |
ESP
|
0:45:39/3.
|
02:11
|
4:33:59/7.
|
01:59
|
2:51:20/6.
|
08:15:11
|
|
Langbrandtner Norbert |
AUT
|
0:48:22/23.
|
01:50
|
4:39:38/13.
|
01:45
|
2:49:27/3.
|
08:21:05
|
|
Leitner Werner |
AUT
|
0:48:13/15.
|
01:49
|
4:39:46/14.
|
01:41
|
2:54:53/9.
|
08:26:24
|
|
Jammaer Bert |
BEL
|
0:48:03/13.
|
01:50
|
4:38:15/10.
|
01:56
|
2:56:30/11.
|
08:26:36
|
|
Seidl Gernot |
AUT
|
0:53:10/85.
|
02:32
|
4:40:28/16.
|
01:51
|
2:52:08/7.
|
08:30:12
|
|
Martinez-Rubio Felix-Javier |
ESP
|
0:51:47/60.
|
02:30
|
4:40:25/15.
|
02:35
|
2:53:33/8.
|
08:30:52
|
|
Anderson Mitchell
|
AUS
|
0:49:55/37.
|
02:33
|
4:37:00/9.
|
01:55
|
3:03:21/15.
|
08:34:46
|
|
Sindballe Torbjörn |
DEN
|
0:45:51/7.
|
02:01
|
4:33:53/6.
|
01:46
|
3:13:56/43.
|
08:37:29
|
Women
|
Preston Rebecca
|
AUS
|
0:53:37/100.
|
02:34
|
5:01:49/122.
|
01:56
|
3:12:10/37.
|
09:12:09
|
|
Bowden Lori |
CAN
|
0:53:28/98.
|
02:04
|
5:12:37/277.
|
02:04
|
3:04:43/20.
|
09:14:59
|
|
Hauke Veronika |
AUT
|
0:55:26/153.
|
02:56
|
5:00:51/110.
|
02:09
|
3:27:32/109.
|
09:28:56
|
|
Biscay Hillary |
USA
|
0:48:11/14.
|
02:32
|
5:20:27/449.
|
02:32
|
3:21:59/82.
|
09:35:43
|
|
Best Nicole |
GER
|
0:52:57/83.
|
01:59
|
5:19:37/431.
|
01:49
|
3:21:43/80.
|
09:38:07
|
|
Keller Fernanda |
BRA
|
0:56:19/192.
|
02:21
|
5:19:05/421.
|
03:47
|
3:28:42/118.
|
09:50:17
|
|
Buckenlei Susanne |
GER
|
0:58:28/263.
|
03:27
|
5:14:02/309.
|
02:37
|
3:34:02/144.
|
09:52:38
|
|
Penker Maria-Elisabeth |
AUT
|
1:08:08/827.
|
03:58
|
5:16:07/354.
|
05:12
|
3:20:31/73.
|
09:53:58
|
|
Krücke Sandra
|
GER
|
0:52:55/79.
|
02:27
|
5:28:15/615.
|
02:46
|
3:28:30/115.
|
09:54:55
|
