While he was perhaps the biggest notable absentee at the Ironman World Championship on Kona last weekend, Jelle Geens is fully back; the Belgian took the win today at Australia’s Ironman 70.3 Port Macquarie. It marks Geens’ first victory of the year after dealing with a long-standing injury.
Of course, Geens had already shown strong form in recent weeks – securing third place at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nice followed by a second-place finish at the T100 French Riviera – but in Port Macquarie, he finally claimed a win once again.
Geens was right in the mix from the start. After the 1,900-meter swim, he exited the water in second place, just 39 seconds behind Josh Ferris, who led with a time of 22:28. However, Geens pushed to the lead in the opening kilometers of the bike leg. By T2, his lead had grown to over a minute ahead of surprise contender Vincent Groesser from Germany, as well as Australian athletes Roland Crantock and Kieran Storch.
Storch was the only one on the concluding half marathon who briefly looked capable of making it a close battle, but by the halfway point, Geens’ advantage had stretched to two minutes. The situation remained firmly in Geens’ control throughout the second half of the run. He crossed the line to win in 3:44:34, with Storch following in second (+2:31) and Australia’s Mitchell Kibby taking third (+4:58).
The women’s race saw a tight battle between Australians Emily Watts and Natalie van Coevorden. Watts led for much of the day, but Van Coevorden steadily closed the gap over the second half of the run. With less than three kilometers to go, Van Coevorden made her move and took the lead, ultimately claiming the victory in 4:16:40. Watts finished second just 32 seconds behind, while Demi Birsh secured third place over seven minutes back.
