Lucy Gossage made it a hat-trick of Ironman Wales titles as she successfully defended her women’s crown in Tenby.
The Nottingham-born triathlete finished 15th overall in 9 hours, 52 minutes, 37 seconds, her second fastest time in the event.
A year ago Gossage, a trained cancer doctor, won in 10:11.20 and in 2013 she triumphed in 09:51.21 as she finished ninth overall.
The men’s race was won for the second time by South African Matt Trautman. The champion in 2014, he became only the fifth athlete to break the nine hour barrier as he won by almost seven minutes from Britain’s Philip Graves.
The 33-year-old Trautman clocked 8:53.21sec as he concluded the event with a sub-three hour marathon. The fastest time over the eight years of the event is held by France’s Sylvain Rota, who won the title in 2012 in 8:52:43.
Trautman’s time was the second fastest recorded in Tenby. He was sixth out of the water at the end of the 3.8K sea swim in 51:10, fastest on the bike in second fastest on the marathon run in 2:59:25.
It was the third time Graves had finished as the runner-up, adding another silver to the ones he captured in 2016 and 2011. His only consolation was that he was faster than ever before, his finishing time of 09:00:13 stripping more than two-and-a-half minutes off his previous best of 09:02:56 two years ago.
Belgium’s Diego van Looy raced up the leaderboard with a remarkable marathon section which saw him clock 2:49.18, the fifth fastest in the history of the event.
Ironman Wales Results
Men
1, Matt Trautman (South Africa) 8hrs, 53min,21sec (Swim 51:10, Bike 4:54:47, Run 2:59:25)
2, Philip Graves (GB) 09:00:13 (48:54, 4:56:15, 3:05:27)
3, Gustavo Rodriguez Iglesias (Spain) 09:09:50 (53:40, 5:01:28, 3:04:49)
4, Victor del Corral (Spain) 09:16:56 (54:59, 5:07:47, 3:05:25)
5, Diego van Looy (Belgium) 09:17:40 (1:02:17, 5:14:59, 2:49:18)
6, Henry Irvine (GB) 09:21:19 (55:22, 5:05:16, 3:12:44)
7, Brian Fogarty (GB) 09:30:51 (1:06:46, 5:01:31, 3:11:57)
8, Seb Escola Fasseur (France) 09:31:11 (1:03:32, 5:11:23, 3:07:06)
9, Fabian Rahn (Germany) 09:32:44 (58:57, 5:15:35, 3:09:53)
10, Trevor Wurtele (Canada) 09:40:50 (51:09, 5:24:35, 3:13:41)
Women
1, Lucy Gossage (GB) 09:52:37 (1:00:11, 5:28:36, 3:15:03)
2, Camilla Pedersen (Denmark) 10:05:41 (51:44, 5:39:32, 3:24:35)
3, Nikki Bartlett (GB) 10:14:43 (1:00:14, 5:32:05, 3:32:49)
4, Heather Wurtele (Canada) 10:18:48 (54:59, 5:41:48, 3:31:27)
5, Jenny Schulz (Germany) 10:32:46 (1:02:33, 5:48:27, 3:23:24)