Al-Sultan and Berasategui win in Wiesbaden

Kai Baumgartner reports on an exciting day of racing at the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Ironman Germany 70.3

Faris Al-Sultan came down from his high-altitude training in the Swiss mountains to win while Spain's Virginia Berasategui defends her title at the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Ironman Germany 70.3.

Faris Al-Sultan won the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Ironman Germany 70.3 Wiesbadenafter making a pit-stop from high altitude training in St. Moritz, Switzerland. He showed a powerful performance in a season that has so far included a win at Ironman Malaysia and a DNF at Ironman Frankfurt. In second was short distance athlete Alessandro Degasperi from Italy, repeating his performance from a year ago, while local Uwe Widmann finished third.

Start to finish
Faris Al-Sultan exited the water of “Schiersteiner Hafen” nearby the River Rheine after 24:18 minutes with a hard pursuing Degasperi only 24 seconds back. Because Al-Sultan was able to successfully escape from downtown Wiesbaden into the surrounding hilly “Rheingau-Taunus”, it was during the half marathon that the race became a close and thrilling one.

“It was not a perfect day, but a good day. It’s getting better and step by step.I didn't start well -- after 50 meters I swam into the first buoy! But most important is that I can continue with a good result into my high altitude camp in Switzerland,” said the 2005 Hawaii World Champion. During this season with so many ups and downs the man who loves to race from the front found what he was looking for in Wiesbaden.

Run decision
While Al-Sultan posted the fastest bike split with 2:24:47, it was a German duo of Enrico Knobloch and Uwe Widmann who tried to stay close. Both came back into T2 about three minutes down. Knobloch, who was facing a serious infection last month eventually struggled during the marathon due lack of training. In the end he finished in sixth. Widmann had a solid performance, finishing third with a 1:20 run split and confirmed his personal best performance at the Frankfurter Sparkasse Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt a few weeks before where he finished ninth.

Markus Forster and Michael Goehner weren't in the picture during the bike, contrary to their long duel a year ago, which meant that the race came down to the run, which was exciting for the 50,000 or 60,000 spectators on hand to watch the race.

World cup triathlete Alessandro Degasperi had a fast run of 1:16:28 which brought him from fourth after the bike to second, 51 seconds behind Al-Sultan.

“It was a good day, but the second part of the bike, with all that high speed downhill … I wasn't feeling so good,” he said. “The swim was good, and the run as well.” Degasperi, who finished second at last weekend's Italian short distance championship, will race at Monaco Ironman 70.3 later this year.

The third fastest run was not enough today for the usually much stronger running German, Goehner. He couldn’t make it to the podium because Widmann defended his bronze medal with a solid run, while Forster rounded out top five.

“At the very end I had trouble going with Degasperi at the uphill sections on the run,” a satisfied Widmann said. “His stride was much longer than mine. I’m feeling the marathon from five weeks ago, but I’m pretty happy,“ said Widmann.

Age groupers for top 10
It was all about the age groupers, too – two of them made it into the top 10, despite having to to start several minutes behind the little field of 17 professionals. German Tom Lorenzen, from Kiel, and Laurent Lambert, from France, finished seventh and eight place overall.

Al-Sultan, who’ll prepare for 2008 Ford Ironman Hawaii Triathlon World Championship in Palm Springs, California, was at the press conference full of positive comments about the event. He liked, what he saw at his first ever appearance in a sporting event in Wiesbaden. “Frankfurt and Wiesbaden are top events! Big thumbs up to the politicians, who make this event happen together with the race organization. This race is fantastic. Organization, spectators and location are really first class. For sure, there are lot nice venues with beautiful courses out there. But making this downtown Wiesbaden happen in front of Kurhaus is a great job. It’s difficult to find a triathlon on that scale!“

Results
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Ironman Germany 70.3 Wiesbaden (1.9k swim, 90k bike, 21.1 run), Wiesbaden, 2008 August 10
Men
1. Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 4:10:26,6
2. Alessandro Degasperi (ITA) 4:11:17,9
3. Uwe Widmann (GER) 4:14:01,0
4. Michael Göhner (GER) 4:17:01,2
5. Markus Forster (GER) 4:19:27,1
6. Enrico Knobloch (GER) 4:20:11,0
7. Tom Lorenzen (GER, M25) 4:22:47,1
8. Laurent Lambert (FRA, M30) 4:22:58,3
9. Florian Greckl (GER) 4:25:50,6
10. Rolf Lautenbacher (GER) 4:28:42,0

The women's race
Virginia Berasategui defended her title at Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Ironman Germany 70.3 Wiesbaden in 4:43:38 after battling the whole day with three Germans: Andrea Brede, Ina Reinders and Meike Krebs.

Brede, who finished a close second at the 2007 Ironman in Frankfurt , emerged after a long term injury with muscle problems and no running for weeks and months. Posting the fastest swim in 26:40 minutes, two seconds ahead of Berasategui and 50 seconds ahead of Krebs, Brede then had to watch another woman brand the race during the early stages of the bike.

Duel on the bike
Ina Reinders came out of the water with Krebs of “Schiersteiner Hafen,” but it was the Bavarian powerhouse who put the hammer down . The tall blond girlfriend of Faris Al-Sultan pushed hard to get in sight of the leading car and brought back memories of her early performances in non-drafting Olympic distance triathlons.

Biking on that level shocked Berasategui, who was also riding well. Reinders and Brede rushed to the very first climb in hopes of pulling away and punished the lightweight Basque defending champion.

“I didn't have a good start,” Berasategui said. “The swim was too hard and way too warm with wetsuits for my personal preferences. Andrea surprised me with her swim! It was good to bike with her and Ina. But when Andrea and Ina passed me at the first hill, I talked to myself: OK, it’s a long day. Wait, wait to see what happens. Ina and me – it was all the time back and forth.”

Solid pace for gold
The duel on the bike between Berasategui, Brede and Reinders continued on the run , where Berasategui came off the bike with a 1:12 lead. But Brede ran well early on, but after the first of the three running laps of the hilly half marathon, the Spaniards hope for a win grew.

“I changed my mind and thought: I can do it!” said the woman with the fastest run split of the day. “After this hard day, I was happy to win again. It was a big fight with Ina on the bike and Andrea on the run.”

“I like to race here. There are many spectators. Everybody is cheering. People enjoy my race, even if Germans are in the race too - behind me! This year I want to enjoy Kona and try to finish,” says Berasategui, who has memories full of trouble on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Brede made it a rock solid silver-color comeback. “I was surprised leading out off the water! I didn’t expect this, swimming with wetsuits suits me well. I wanted to do my comeback race with no pressure at all. No big pain and health issues. The bike was good, but I lost some time on the downhill sections, I was too cautious in these sections and lost quite some time. On the run, there is still some speed missing, but I loved to run again.”

Meike Krebs was happy to finish third just a few weeks after her Ironman in Frankfurt where she crossed the line in fourth. “I couldn’t train as much as I wanted. After Frankfurt, I needed some rest. Two weeks of good training and some time tapering again. It still hurt at the end of the run, but at the end of the day, I’m a lucky one.”

Reinders held on for fourth place. As with the men's race, the first age groupers made it into the top ten: Nadine Baks, Katrin Esefeld and Josephine Clausen finished fifth through seventh, Wenke Kujala, Iris Tiedeken and age grouper Nicole Best rounded out the top 10.

Results
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Ironman Germany 70.3 Wiesbaden (1.9k swim, 90k bike, 21.1 run), Wiesbaden, 2008 August 10
Women
1. Virginia Berasategui (ESP) 4:43:38,2
2. Andrea Brede (GER) 4:49:26,7
3. Meike Krebs (GER) 4:55:48,1
4. Ina Reinders (GER) 4:57:58,3
5. Nadine Baks (GER, F30) 5:02:41,8
6. Katrin Esefeld (GER, F25) 5:03:13,3
7. Josephine Clausen (GER, F18) 5:06:02,3
8. Wenke Kujala (GER) 5:06:13,4
9. Iris Tiedeken (GER) 5:06:25,6
10. Nicole Best (GER, F40) 5:08:53,2