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Joe Skipper proved triumphant at Ironman Lake Placid over the weekend, holding off his competitors to win the full distance triathlon with a time of 8 hours, 3 minutes, and 46 seconds, writes Lisa Pringle.
Although already qualified for the Ironman World Championship in Nice, France this September, the British champion put on a show over the hilly course in the Adirondacks to win by over two minutes to the rest of the field.
After emerging from the 3.8-km swim in 10th place four minutes behind the leader, he got to work to take the lead halfway through the 180-km cycle course, then pushed to get off the bike with a 1:20 margin. With a surging Ben Hoffman behind him, Skipper could not relax and applied more steam at the half way point of the marathon to remain unchallenged for the win.
“On the bike I felt like I was riding really well. Legs felt good, power was good, and it felt like I was pretty aero so I was going quite well,” said Skipper post-race.
“I just picked the right opportunity to go in for a breakaway. Out on the run it was horrendous because I didn’t get any time splits… He [Ben Hoffman] really made me work for that.”
Backing up from a speedy effort at Challenge Roth in Germany at the start of the month that saw him finish fifth, Skipper is finely honing the edge that will take him to the top of the world.
In other major news for Bahrain Victorious 13, Lauren Parker has been announced as part of the Australian Para-Cycling Team. She will next compete in the time trial and road race events at the World Championships in Glasgow on August 9 and 11.
Looking toward this weekend’s races, Cassandre Beaugrand, Hayden Wilde, and Henri Schoeman continue their exploits over the individual sprint and team mixed relay formats at the World Triathlon Championship Series Sunderland in the UK.
