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Daniela Ryf led the charge for the Bahrain Victorious 13 Team over the weekend, scoring her 8th consecutive win at Ironman 70.3 Rapperswil.
The Swiss star has dominated her hometown race ever since her shift to long-course triathlon in 2014, and on Sunday continued her incredible unbeaten record at the event having shaken off what ailed her in Ibiza last month at the PTO European Tour.
Coming out of the 1.9-kilometre swim 46 seconds in arrears to the swim leader, Ryf wasted no time getting to the pointy end on the 90km bike leg and left the rest of the field more than six minutes back by the time she started the half marathon. Ryf defended her title with a strong run to hold off current PTO world number 1 Ashleigh Gentle.
She said, “After a challenging five weeks it could not feel better to be back healthy, to push again and feel good. Being able to swim solid and feeling strong on the bike, Ashleigh put me under pressure catching up very fast during the run. Thanks to the home crowd I could give my all and bring home the eighth win here.”
Holly Lawrence picked up a silver at Ironman 70.3 Boulder, her new hometown race since relocating to Colorado for a change in training grounds and scenery. “Racing at altitude hits different,” she said. “Stayed patient and focused on my own race and somehow managed to not get caught by Jeanni Metzler who was chasing me down on the run.”
Joe Skipper brought home a bronze from Challenge Geraardsbergen, coming into better form as the European summer starts. He said, “Actually a decent result for me, as I’ve always struggled at the half distance in the past. Swim wasn’t great, bike felt really decent although I definitely could have done with some more gears on the Muur... Home tomorrow and then a little bit more training before heading out to Challenge Roth for the big one!”
