Kristian Høgenhaug has finished the Ironman World Championship in 9th place after a well-executed race. A great swim brought him right in the mix from the start. The BMC athlete excelled on the bike, making his move in the final stages to start the run in 3rd place. After a brutal marathon with a lot of position switches, Kristian eventually crossed the finish line on Ali’i Drive in a time of 7:53:37, resulting in a strong move in the IM Pro Series standings. Patrick Lange (GER; 7:35:53) crowned himself World Champion for the third time as Magnus Ditlev (DEN; 7:43:39) and Rudy Von Berg (USA; 7:46:00) joined him on the podium.
In contention for a podium until well into the marathon
Before the start, Kristian Høgenhaug had two objectives in mind. Go for a good result on raceday and use that result to move up in the IM Pro Series standings.
Kristian started the day with an excellent swim. Kristian was able to tag along with the front group until the halfway mark of the swim. From that point on, the pace was being pushed even more. Kristian stayed in his own rhythm and exited the water in 23th place, only one minute behind the big lead group.
On the bike, Høgenhaug played things smart. He didn’t rush to the front and managed his efforts, but still moved up through the field. Around the 60k mark, the Dane connected with the first chase group and was battling for the podium spots, 3 minutes down on leader Laidlow at that point. Kristian settled himself right in the middle of that big pack, in order to control his energy. It was with about 40k to go, where the BMC athlete really started to push the pace to make a difference. He rode to the front of the group and immediately opened up a gap. After a blistering last 40k, Høgenhaug racked his bike in 4th place and even moved up to 3rd in T2, 1’15 behind 2nd position.
Taking on the marathon in 3rd place, Kristian stuck to the race plan and controlled his pace just like he did on the bike. On top of Palani Road, 12k into the run, Høgenhaug was running in 7th place, but was trailing 5th by only 20 seconds. As the kilometers passed, he stayed close to his competitors as the heat and humidity started to creep in going in and out Energy Lab. With less than 10k to go, Kristian had solid control of 9th place and kept the athletes behind him at a safe distance of at least 2’30. Giving his all towards the line, in order to score as many points as possible for the IM Pro Series standings, Høgenhaug crossed the finish line in a time of 7:53:37 and a fantastic 9th place in the world.
Struck by illness
Besides Kristian Høgenhaug, also Thor Bendix Madsen, Chris Leiferman and Clément Mignon toed the line in Kona.
Thor made his debut on the Big Island with a 40th place. He struggled with stomach issues 10k into the marathon, but managed to pull through and finish his first race in Hawaï to gain a lot of experience towards the future of his long-distance career.
Chris Leiferman felt powerless in the closing stages of the bike. He pushed through on the bike and still managed to take off for the run, but then experienced severe chills and decided to withdraw from the race.
Clément Mignon had an excellent start of his day as he exited the water well inside the lead group. Unfortunately, straight after the swim, he started to get a headache and had to vomit only 15k into the bike. He started to feel really unwell and due to ilness he had to withdraw from the race as well.
