Chris Leiferman stormed to an outstanding victory in IM70.3 Boulder. The American posted a phenomenal bike split of 1:56:01 and held on during the half marathlon to take the win in a time of 3:44:32. Tyler Butterfield (BER; 3:44:40) came very close in the end, but had to settle for 2nd place. Kennett Peterson clinched the final podium spot (USA; 3:49:14).
After suffering from injuries for the first part of the season, Chris Leiferman was motivated to toe the line in his home town of Boulder.
A tough swim saw Chris reach T1 in 19th place, 2’30 behind the leaders. Once on the bike, Leifermans incredible performance started. Within the first 10k, he moved up to 12th place. Chris kept pushing high watts and just before halfway through the bike, he had made the connection with the front group of the race. The BMC-Vifit athlete didn’t settle down, but pushed the pace instead. He took over the lead and broke away from the group immediately. Chris kept extending his lead as he entered T2 clocking an incredible bike split of 1:56:01. Leiferman started the run with a 1’50 advantege on Peterson in second. The rest of the field trailed another minute back. In the opening stages of the run Chris extended his lead to Peterson to more than 3’30. At the halfway mark, Chris’ lead was still the same, but strong runner Butterfield was chasing hard. But Leiferman withstood the pressure and was able to hold of Butterfield to take a fantastic victory in Boulder.
Went all out on the bike
Afterwards Chris Leiferman reflected on his outstanding performance: “The swim was frustrating and I came out where I normally do, so I had to work hard on the bike. I gave it my all knowing that I would have to have a gap leading into the run. So, I put my head down and pushed the pedals hard all the way to the end. I got off the bike with my first run off in over 15 weeks and I surprisingly felt good. It started to hurt on the second half of the run and I kept getting splits to second place. I knew that I just needed to not fall off of my pace to hold onto my leading position. I did what I needed to do to grab the win.”
