Kristian Blummenfelt set a new Ironman 70.3 world best time, defended his 2017 title, and led a 1-2-3 Norwegian sweep of the pro men at the Middle East Championship Saturday in Bahrain.



Blummenfelt’s official time of 3:29:04 beat the previous Ironman 70.3 world best time of 3:34:04 set at the 2009 Ironman 70.3 World Championship by Michael Raelert by 5 minutes and surpassed Blummenfelt’s 3:40:24 winning time at this race last year by 11 minutes 20 seconds.



Holly Lawrence beat fellow British triathlete Sarah Lewis by 53 seconds and her winning time of 3:59:20 surpassed her victorious 2017 effort of 4:02:33 by 3:13.



Men



On a day of perfect conditions, Blummenfelt began his day with a 6th-best swim that was 38 seconds behind swim leader Eric Watson.



Blummenfelt quickly made up that deficit on the bike as he took the lead at 28km, followed closely by fellow Norwegians Gustav Iden and Casper Stornes, as well as Adam Bowden of Great Britain.



Blummenfelt and Iden switched places at the front before Iden, posting a 2nd-fastest 1:56:37 bike split, led Blummenfelt and Stornes into T2.



Iden clung to his lead until Blummenfelt wrested control halfway through the 21.1km run. After a race-best 1:06:58 half marathon, 24-year-old Blummenfelt finished in 3:29:04 with a 21 seconds margin of victory over Iden (1:07:13 run) and 4:27 over 3rd place finisher Stornes, who closed with a 1:11:15 run.



Super speedy times in major 70.3 Championships have become the norm as Jan Frodeno set an Ironman 70.3 run mark of 1:06:34 at the 2018 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in South Africa, which was 24 seconds better than Blummenfelt’s Bahrain run. Blummenfelt averaged 3:08 per kilometer on the half marathon.



Although Blummenfelt’s bike split of 1:56:52 was superb, his countryman Stornes set the fastest bike split of the day with a 1:56:32 mark.



Women

Lawrence opened her race with a women’s-best swim split of 22:10 which gave her a 1:04 lead on Ellie Salthouse and 2:18 on fellow Brit Sarah Lewis.



Lawrence struggled in the opening miles of the bike leg before hitting her stride and finishing the ride in a women’s-best 2:10:43 which gave her a 2:31 lead over Salthouse and 3:49 on Lewis at T2.



Lewis attacked on the run, posting a 1:18:41 half marathon, which was 3:14 better than Lawrence. But Lewis fell 53 second short of the win as Lawrence held off her countrywoman with a 1:21:55 run to take the $14,000 top prize.



Ironman 70.3 Middle East Championship

Manama, Bahrain

December 8, 2018

S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.



Results



Men



1. Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) 3:29:04 S&T1 23:23 B 1:56:52 T2 1:53 R 1:06:58

2. Gustav Iden (NOR) 3:29:25 S&T1 23:43 B 1:56:37 T2 1:54 R 1:07:13

3. Casper Stornes (NOR) 3:33:31 S&T1 23:46 B 1:56:32 T2 2:00 R 1:11:15

4. Adam Bowden (GBR) 3:35:03 S&T1 23:09 B 1:58:25 T2 2:09 R 1:11:21

5. Matt Trautman (RSA) 3:39:21 S&T1 24:46 B 1:59:56 T2 2:13 R 1:12:27



Women



1. Holly Lawrence (GBR) 3:59:20 S 22:10 T1 2:11 B 2:10:43 T2 2:23 R 1:21:55

2. Sarah Lewis (GBR) 4:00:13 S 24:28 T1 2:10 B 2:12:15 T2 2:41 R 1:18:41

3. Ellie Salthouse (AUS) 4:06:25 S 23:14 T1 2:05 B 2:12:16 T2 2:16 R 1:26:36

4. Frankie Sanjana (GBR) 4:11:45 S 26:41 T1 2:26 B 2:13:46 T2 2:34 R 1:26:20

5. Annah Watkinson (RSA) 4:13:17 S 25:43 T1 2:19 B 2:18:36 T2 2:41 R 1:24:01