A week after winning Challenge Roth and posting the third fastest Iron-distance time ever the Swiss triathlete Daniela Ryf wins Ironman Switzerland in 8:51:50, a new course record.
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“My strategy was to go easy,” said Ryf after the race, “but Celine [Schaerer ] was going so good in the swim, I just had to follow. On the bike, I decided to go hard then, and on the run you can’t go easy when there are so many people.”
Schaerer, her Swiss compatriot, had the best swim split in 53:14 two seconds ahead of Ryf, but the reigning Ironman and Ironman 70.3 world champion then hammered away on the bike.
Thanks to the best bike split by far, Ryf came off the bike with a lead of 21 minutes over Emma Bilham (SUI).
“My body was working very good today,” said Ryf.
She smashed the race record in 8:51:50 by more than 8 minutes taking an impressive win.
Behind the champion, Bilham added a great result to her CV after being runner-up at the Ironman France in June.
“I wasn’t chasing the Ironman World Champion today,” said Bilham with a smile, “I think she was already under the shower when I crossed the line. Daniela is in a different league.”
In the men’s the 36-year old race legend Ronnie Schildknecht celebrated his ninth win in 8:17:04 after a strong bike and run leg, which saw him overtake his rivals shortly before the half marathon mark and never gave it away again.
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“I realised my win with two kilometres to go, and I was full of emotions,” said Schildknecht .”It’s a sensational moment, it is absolutely not normal for me to win here even if people may think that. This is a little Ironman world championship for me.”