Bozzone runner-up in IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship

Kiwi Terenzo Bozzone has climbed back from adversity to win the silver medal at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas today.

The 28 year old remained in touch with the challenges throughout the swim and bike before recording the day’s best run for second behind close friend Sebastian Kienle from Germany.

Bozzone had his domestic campaign wrecked when he crashed into an opening car door on his bike two days from the IRONMAN 70.3 Asia Pacific Championships in Auckland, and the resulting delayed concussion forced him out of IRONMAN New Zealand in Taupo several weeks later.

After a late start to his North American campaign accordingly, Bozzone found good recent form with IRONMAN 70.3 wins in Mont Tremblant and Florida as well as runner-up in the ITU Long Distance Championships in France.

Kienle repeated his victory from last year in similar style, powering through the field on the bike in an unusually wet day in Las Vegas to open a buffer approaching three minutes. The German eventually won in 3:54.02 with the Kiwi two minutes back ahead of Australian Joe Gambles a further minute behind.

Bozzone produced the best run split with a 1:13 effort for the 21.1km run, a minute quicker than his nearest rival.

“I honestly couldn’t be happier with second place,” Bozzone said. “Sebastian Kienle is one of my best friends and for him to hold on and win the same way he won last year takes a lot of courage and a lot of talent.

“Although I would have loved to have won the race, I am ecstatic to get second place.”

Bozzone recovered from surgery on his Achilles tendon that threatened his burgeoning career, finding winning form late last year before his crash set him back again.

“I am happy to get back on the podium and grateful for everyone who has been on my corner, everyone who has had faith in me to come back. It’s been a tough couple of years.

“That’s two seconds at two world championships this year I think I am almost back. Hopefully the best is still to come.”

It was not such good news for fellow Kiwi Bevan Docherty, who was third on debut in Las Vegas last year. After moving into the challenging group, he dropped off the pace late in the bike and could not find his running legs, eventually withdrawing.

“That wasn’t the day I was after. At least there’s only one day from a result like that ... onward and upward,” Docherty said in reference to his major goal of his debut in IRONMAN World Championships in Hawaii next month.

Of the other New Zealanders, Auckland’s Callum Millward had a strong race to finish 12th on debut with Mark Bowstead (Glenbrook) 27th .

Australian star Melissa Hauschildt survived a crash late in the bike to dominate the women’s race.

Hauschildt because the first woman to claim the title twice following her debut victory in 2011, dominating with the fastest bike and run splits to win in 4:20.07.

She was five minutes clear of American Heather Jackson with another Australian Annabel Luxford third in her IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship debut.

New Zealand’s Joanna Lawn finished 15th.

Results:
IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run):
Men: Sebastian Kienle (GER) 3:54.02, 1; Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 3:56.06, 2; Joe Gambles (AUS) 3:56.55, 3. Also New Zealanders: Callum Millward 4:00.48, 12; Mark Bowstead 4:17.07, 27.
Women: Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) 4:20.07, 1; Heather Jackson (USA) 4:25.19, 2; Annabel Luxford (AUS) 4:25.59, 3. Also: Joanna Lawn 4:43.04, 15.

More results and Age Group tracking available live on www.ironman.com