(suspenseful music)
- The men's field
in the 2018 Half IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships
was not only one of the strongest fields ever assembled
for the event,
but it featured a marquee matchup
of three of the biggest names to ever race triathlon.
Defending champion, Javier Gomez,
is an eight time world champion.
(upbeat hiphop music)
Alistair Brownlee is a two time Olympic gold medalist
and likely the best one day racer in the world.
(upbeat hiphop music)
And fellow Olympic gold medalist, Jan Frodeno,
is a two time winner in Kona
and the 2015 70.3 World Champion.
(upbeat hiphop music)
- Javier Gomez for ya!
(crowd cheering)
(yelling in foreign language)
(choir music)
- Ladies and gentleman,
it is the Isuzu IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship,
Nelson Mandela Bay.
Our professional male are now a go, go, go
into the waters of the Indian Ocean.
- With the recent entrance of short course triathletes,
70.3 swims have progressed to a blistering pace,
and today was no different.
2017 runner up, Ben Kanute,
last year's fourth place finisher, Sam Appleton,
and Braden Currie, the only person to beat Javier Gomez
this year, came out in the front pack together
along with the favorites.
(upbeat electronic music)
The bikes sorted it out by the 60 kilometer mark
with the favorites working hard
to break each other while Ben Kanute looks strong,
Sam Appleton and Pieter Heemeryck also took turns working
at the front of the pack.
(energetic electronic music)
The run quickly separated the field, however.
Kanute, Appleton and Heemeryck got shelled,
and the three favorites went to war.
Brownlee took the lead early
only to give it up to Jan while Gomez ran up and ran
right in behind Jan Frodeno's shoulder.
(energetic electronic music)
But 3/4 into the run, Gomez dropped off
with a side stitch, walking at one point,
and it became a battle between Frodeno
and the traditionally faster runner, Brownlee,
charging up to catch him.
(fans chanting)
- Go!
Go, go!
(gentle electronic music)
- Frodeno dug deep, stomped on the gas
and showed why, at the moment,
he is the best long course male triathlete in the world.
- Your Isuzu IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion.
- Jan Frodeno became the 2018 Half IRONMAN World Champion
in a blistering time of 3:36:31.
(fans cheering)
Brownlee hung on for second in 3:37:42.
(upbeat electronic music) (crowd cheering)
And Gomez placed third on the podium in 3:38:27.
(upbeat electronic music)
The pro field was rounded out by athletes who,
in a lotta cases, put out lifetime best performances
that on any other day might've been winning times.
(upbeat electronic music)
But this race wasn't like other races.
It may go down in history as the most competitive battle
to ever happen at a Half IRONMAN World Championship.
(upbeat electronic music)
Personally, this race was special for me too
as it was the first world championship
I've ever competed in after almost 10 years
of doing triathlon.
I started in triathlons doing
over three hour Olympic distance races,
and in early 2018, I thought the best time
my body was ever capable of was maybe
on a perfect day a 40:40.
(upbeat electronic music)
But at the World Championship,
everything came together better than I could've hoped.
(energetic dance music)
The Tower 26 swim work finally manifested a faster time,
swimming 29 minutes flat.
(energetic dance music)
The Ventum spun smoothly under me,
and the new aero position cut through the wind
on my way to a 60th fastest bike of the day, going 2:26:58.
(energetic dance music)
And better nutrition and strength work allowed me
to grind through a half marathon on tired legs,
going 1:35 on my way
to a six minute personal best time of 4:35:59.
(energetic dance music)
- Oh, I killed him.
That was Mark.
- Of course, I thank my wife, No Triathlon Kim,
and partner in video making crime, Mel,
for allowing me to do this race
and a huge shout-out to everyone
who shouted at me during the race.
While I may not have acknowledged it much more
than a grimace or a grunt, your passion fuels me,
so thank you to everyone involved,
and let's look forward to Kona now.
Woo!
(energetic dance music)