Léo Bergère and Katrina Matthews have been proclaimed winners of the Club La Santa IRONMAN 70.3 Lanzarote after an intense race that has left images that will remain in the memory on this tenth anniversary of the event.
The competition started at 7:00 in the morning at the Marina Rubicón Sports Port. The 1,126 triathletes took to the water with the ‘Rolling Start’ start format to tackle the 1.9 kilometers they had to swim. In this first section, Kyle Smith took first place and came out of the water in Playa Blanca as provisional leader, closely followed by the German Florian Angert. The British Jessica Learmonth and Lucy Buckingham finished this segment practically at the same time and their distance from their main pursuer, Anne Haug, was three minutes.
In the cycling segment, Clément Mignon starred in a beautiful duel with Kyle Smith to finish in first position. The Frenchman Mignon took first place in this segment after finishing the swim in seventh place. Kyle Smith arrived just five seconds behind, in second position, and more than a minute ahead of his main pursuer, Florian Angert. For her part, Katrina Matthews went from being in fourth position to placing herself in first. As she already warned in the previous press conference, the British woman knew the cycling segment very well and positioned herself at the head in the women's side, pursued by Jessica Learmonth and Anne Haug respectively.
To finish the tenth anniversary of this Club La Santa IRONMAN 70.3 Lanzarote and reach the finish line, the participants faced 21.1 kilometers of running around the perimeter of Playa Blanca, belonging to the municipality of Yaiza. After getting off their bicycles, Léo Bergère began to advance positions until reaching the first position with just under two kilometers to go, and ended up being proclaimed champion. Kyle Smith would finish just 26 seconds behind. On the women's side, Katrina Matthews and Anne Haug fought to the end to reach the first position. The British Katrina Matthews finished the competition three minutes and 36 seconds before Anne Haug, who came in second position, and Jessica Learmonth, who took third place.
The awards ceremony will be tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Hotel THB Tropical Island in Playa Blanca. The celebration of a test of the stature of IRONMAN 70.3, which has mobilized more than 2,000 people, keeps Lanzarote and the Canary Islands in a position of reference in the international sports scene.