Back to Back win: Javier Gomez is the new Ironman 70.3 World Champion

By Wires September 8, 2014

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Just a week after winning the ITU World Championships, Javier Gomez is now the World Ironman 70.3 Championships in Mont-Tremblant, Canada. With a half marathon in 1:09:27 for 21,2km (3: 18 / km), the Spanish gave no chance to his closest opponents, Jan Frodeno (GER) and Tim Don (GBR), placed 2nd and 3rd respectively. The podium dominated by the ITU athletes showed that a new era is approaching for long distance events.

The day started with Gomez dominating the swim with Frodeno, Josh Amberger (AUS), Jimmy Seear (AUS), Ben Collins (USA) and Brent McMahon (CAN) right behind him. A large group, about 35 seconds later, had Terenzo Bozzone (NZL), Tim Don (GBR), Nils Frommhols (ALE), among others. The 2013 champion, Sebastian Kienle, only reached the first transition 3’30 “later.

On the bike, a large group gathered in front and stayed together for most of the bike. Frodeno tried several attacks to get rid of Gomez: “I knew it would be difficult to outrun him,” said the German. Meanwhile, Canadian Lionel Sanders, who came out of the water 4 minutes after the leaders, had the best bike split of the day, incredible 90km in 2:04:14 (43,5km average). At the end of the bike, Frodeno, Collins and Bozzone managed to open 30 seconds on Javier.

Once on the run, the Spanish looked as relaxed as early in the race, one by one, the athletes on the lead pack were getting dropped by his blazing. The last step was to make a move on Frodeno, who tried to match his pace, but got dropped before the 10km mark. Gomez went flawless, crossing the line in 3:41:30. With a 1:10:36 half marathon split, Frodeno was second, followed by Tim Don, and the big surprise of the day: Lionel Sanders, who still managed to score 1:11:21 in the half marathon. Frommhold completed the podium.

Starting this year, the Ironman 70.3 World Champs will be rotating its hosting venue, which will make the race more exciting as certain courses may favor certain athletes. In 2015, the race will be held in Austria, on the challenging course of the Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun.