Jelle Geens squeezes out Hayden Wilde to claim maiden Ironman 70.3 world title

Belgium’s Jelle Geens overtook home hero and pre-race favourite Hayden Wilde in the closing kilometres to take a first Ironman 70.3 world title in Taupo, New Zealand.

The 30-year-old produced a stunning 1:07:34 half-marathon to claw back the deficit and break Kiwi hearts and the will of a fatiguing Wilde.

And while it wasn’t as dramatic as Alex Yee’s Olympic comeback over Wilde in Paris this summer, it might have felt equally galling for the New Zealander, who looked like a convincing champion-elect for the first two-thirds of the run, but barely had the energy to acknowledge the crowd’s cheers as he crossed the line in second place.

Wilde’s had predicted before the race that he was in 1:05 half-marathon shape, but later admitting to misjudging the early pace, he ultimately faded badly towards the end and ran a 1:09:05.

France’s ever-consistent and previously unbeaten over 70.3 racing Leo Bergere was comfortable in third meaning that all three podium finishers were making their 70.3 worlds debuts. The trio had all also competed at this year’s Paris Olympics, where Wilde and Bergere had also won silver and bronze.

Another home hope, Kyle Smith, put in a spirited performance to finish fourth, one spot ahead of Germany’s Justus Nieschlag, and Britain’s Harry Palmer ran through for eighth with compatriot Tom Bishop in 12th.

The race in Taupo signalled a partial changing of the guard with a lot of familiar names absent. There was no T100 champion Marten Van Riel, no recently retired Alistair Brownlee, no Kristian Blummenfelt nor Gustav Iden, no Lionel Sanders, and no Sam Long.

Ironman world champion Patrick Lange had also forfeited his chance of winning the overall Pro Series by choosing not to travel to New Zealand.

But there was still plenty of other talent on the start-list, with defending champion Rico Bogen among the favourites, and former Commonwealth champion Henri Schoeman lining up too.

There was also a race within a race for the Ironman Pro Series with Gregory Barnaby, Kristian Hogenhaug and Matthew Marquardt all in contention to take the overall title.

It would be Barnaby, who placed ninth – with Hogenhaug and Marquardt both behind him – who retained his position at the top of the leaderboard ahead of Lange and picked up the $200k top prize.

What happened in the swim?

The morning after the women dived into the choppy waters of Lake Taupo, it was the men’s turn, and after the traditional challenge of the Haka was set, the racing took over.

A one-lap 1.9km swim was led out by USA’s Greg Harper, who took part in the Olympic swim trials for the London 2012 Games.

With no real pedigree of professional results, Harper was determined to make the most of the spotlight and put on a swim clinic to hit transition in 21:48.

A three-man group of Josh Amberger, Bergere and Marc Dubrick were only 12sec behind, before a similar gap to the next bunch containing Bogen, Wilde, Smith and Geens.   

Bishop was the best placed Brit, a minute behind in 16th, with Tom Davis in 20th and Palmer, 27th.

What happened on the bike?

There were immediate problems for USA’s Marquardt, who, after a below par swim, looked to be cramping right from the start of the 90km bike leg. 

The early kilometres of the bike course were the most challenging and the numbers in the leading pace line whittled away as more triathletes fell off the pace.

Through halfway on the bike and travelling in excess of 50km/h the pre-race favourites were in contention including Wilde, Geens, Bogen, Bergere and Smith. Mathis Margirier, Nieschlag and Schoeman made up the leading mix of eight.

Brits Bishop and Palmer were in a large second group around 90sec back, but with the footspeed at the front, knew that the gap would have to close should they have any chance of victory.

Margirier was forced to serve a penalty heading into T2, which all but ended his chances, and if it incentivised him to put the power down for the final few kilometres, then Wilde seized the chance to go with him, posting a race-best 1:58:51 split as he hit transition first.

What happened on the run?

Wilde was in and out of transition in a flash to start the 21.1km final leg, and immediately had a gap back to Geens, who was leading the chasers.

He had opened a buffer of just over half-a-minute over the Belgian by the end of the first of two laps, which extended to around 50sec, with Bergere another minute back and Smith about the same distance adrift in fourth.

Wilde was constantly looking at his watch to check his pace, and it would start to translate to bad news as he approached the final third of the run, because he was slowing dramatically.

One man who wasn’t slowing was three-time Olympian Geens, who stuck to the task and when he blew past his rival at the 18km mark there was no chance of a comeback.

Palmer delivered one of the best runs of the day to finish in eighth, with Bishop also in the prize money in 12th spot. David finished 18th to complete a solid trio of performances from the Brits.

Geens said:

“A crazy day, I’ve been in this sport for a long time and it’s had its ups and downs. The last one-and-a-half years in short course racing was tough for me mentally and to step up to middle distance racing and in my first try to become world champion is incredible.”

Wilde said:

“I put a big ambition out there and was naive, but I did the training and felt like I rode appropriately. I know these roads like the back of my hand, and I got a gap and felt confident. It’s really hard to slow yourself down in that first 10km and I just couldn’t do it, I was too excited and I went out probably too hard.”

Bergere said:

“I’ve learned a lot today and at the end of the bike the guys went crazy again and I decided to save myself for the run. I was expecting to have a good race and targeting the title coming in, but Jelle was so strong today, even on the bike he was aggressive, and he deserved it, and a special mention to Hayden as well, he just made the race exciting.”

Ironman 70.3 World Championship: Men’s pro results

1. Jelle Geens
2. Hayden Wilde
3. Leo Bergere
4. Kyle Smith
5. Justus Nieschlag
6. Henri Schoeman
7. Rico Bogen
8. Harry Palmer
9. Gregory Barnaby
10. Marc Dubrick