KAILUA-KONA — Five minutes ahead of his closest competitor, Sebastian Kienle earned the luxury of walking across the finish line for his first win at the Ironman World Championship Saturday.
The German uberbiker crossed the finish line in 8 hours, 14 minutes and 18 seconds and then collapsed, from a combination of exhaustion and emotion, onto Alii Drive.
“I never thought I was going to win this,” said Kienle to the crowd after the win. “Never judge your life because of one bad day, judge it by your best day.”
Kienle certainly had one of his best — if not the best — days of his career, separating himself with a race-best 4:20:46 bike against strong winds. He was never threatened in the marathon.
“A big part about doing well in this sport is having the trust in yourself and your abilities,” said Kienle, who had dealt with a troublesome Achilles tendon in recent weeks. “It was more pressure going into this year’s race than the last two years, but I handled it pretty good.”
As the top male finishers gathered near the finish line, the attention of the crowd shifted to the monitors above.
After falling behind more than 14 minutes, defending women’s champion Mirinda Carfrae closed in on her competition with a world-class run. Approaching the 23-mile mark, she overtook leader Daniela Ryf, then sprinted to a 9:00:55 finish and her third Kona title.
“Honestly, I haven’t had the chance to let it sink in yet,” Carfrae said. “There was no laying off the gas all day long chasing down these girls.
“I was just trying to just stay within reach. I said to my coach before the race that anything over 10 minutes (after the bike transition) would be too much. I hopped off the bike and was quite concerned. I was more just focused on trying to get in the top five because they were so far ahead.”
Carfrae chipped away with her blistering run pace, finishing the marathon in 2:50:26, beating the run-course record she set in 2013 by 12 seconds.
The Australian joins an elite group of three other women with three or more Ironman World Championship titles.
“I was reminded of that after the race,” said Carfrae, who also won in 2010 and 2013. “Chrissie Wellington, Paula Newby-Fraser, Natascha Badmann — they are the big names in Ironman triathlon. To put my name up amongst the likes of those women has been unreal. I’m pretty over the moon with it to be honest.
American Ben Hoffman was a surprise runner-up in 8:19:23. It was the best finish for a U.S. athlete at the event since Chris Lieto finished second to Craig Alexander in 2009. German 2008 Olympic gold medalist Jan Frodeno was third in 8:20:32.
Defending men’s champion Frederik Van Lierde of Belgium was in the mix most of the day, but he slid on the run and took eighth place in 8:24:11.
Kienle finished fourth at the 2012 Ironman World Championship and placed third last year.
Ryf — a Kona rookie — led the women’s field for most of the day, but she finished the race in second place with a time of 9:02:57. Ryf raced her first full Ironman just over two months ago, but she is the reigning Ironman 70.3 World Champion.
“I really enjoyed it actually. I had a lot of fun out there,” said Ryf, who made Kona her third Iron-distance finish. “It was really tough. The course is hard. The bike is really hard with the wind. It makes you tired, especially in the legs. You start to run and don’t really feel that bouncy.”
Carfrae commended Ryf for her effort, but she was not ready to give up her title to the rookie.
“I couldn’t let her win,” Carfrae said with a laugh. “You have to do your homework here.”
Rachel Joyce — the 2013 runner-up — finished at 9:04:23, good for third place.
The top American woman was Liz Lyles, who finished the race in 9:18:11. Kailua-Kona’s Bree Wee finished 16th with an overall time of 09:34:37.
The winners received $120,000 each.
