Alexander repeats at Ironman; Wellington runs away with third straight women’s title

Alexander, Wellington repeat at Ironman

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — Craig Alexander needed every second the last time he chased down Chris Lieto. This time, he comfortably walked across the line.

Alexander won the Ironman World Championship on Saturday, making a late charge in the stifling heat to claim his second straight title. The 36-year-old Australian completed the 140.6-mile endurance test in 8 hours, 20 minutes and 21 seconds, beating California’s Lieto by more than 2 minutes.

In June, he edged Lieto by 2 seconds at the Ironman in Boise, Idaho.

“It was so hard today,” Alexander said. “I think the beautiful thing about this race is that every time you race here you learn something about yourself as an athlete and today was tough.”

Britain’s Chrissie Wellington earned her third straight women’s title, finishing in a course record 8:54:02 — nearly 20 minutes ahead of Australia’s Mirinda Carfrae. Wellington broke Paula Newby-Fraser’s mark of 8:55:28 set in 1992 and finished 23rd overall.

“I never thought I’d come here and break Paula’s record,” Wellington said. “She’s an absolute legend. I feel kind of guilty doing it. I had to dig so hard to do it.”

Alexander and Wellington each won $110,000.

“I hope I can continue to be the champion that you can all be proud of,” Wellington said.

The triathletes had virtually windless conditions much of the day. They battled the unforgiving heat that radiated off the pavement and the ink-black, sun-baked lava fields.

Alexander, the first to defend the men’s title since Timothy DeBoom in 2002, waved a small Australian flag and gave high fives in the home stretch. He walked the final steps, paused at the finish line, raised the ribbon over his head and roared as he flexed his muscles.

“I wanted to come up with a worthy defense of my crown,” Alexander said.

He was draped with leis before being greeted by his family.

“Daddy, those are nice flowers,” his young daughter Lucy said.

Alexander stayed in the hunt in the 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bike race before overtaking Lieto with about 5 miles left in the 26.2-mile run. Fighting off cramps, Lieto tried stay on Alexander’s heels, but couldn’t keep up.

Lieto, of Danville, Calif., said he wanted a faster run but his legs were succumbing to the heat.

“I gave it my best and I just tried to hang on as hard as I could,” he said.

Lieto made a strong move on the bicycle. He pressed hard heading up to the town of Hawi and took the lead from 2005 champion Faris Al-Sultan just before reaching the 60-mile mark.

Lieto started to pull away as he made his way back to Kona, taking a 5½-minute lead over Maik Twelsiek to start the run. Lieto, 37, vying to become the first American to win since DeBoom, was followed by Andreas Raelert, 2007 champion Chris McCormack and Rasmus Henning.

Meanwhile, the 32-year-old Wellington was alone for much of the race.

She was controlled and confident, easily beating last year’s winning time of 9:06:23 and breaking the long-standing record of eight-time winner Newby-Fraser.

The only stumble was at the finish line, where she rolled on the ground in celebration. An emotional Wellington was speechless.

“Mahalo,” she said, using the Hawaiian word for “thank you.”

Wellington became the third woman in the event’s 31-year history to win three straight, joining Newby-Fraser and Natascha Badmann.

She surged to the front with a dominating performance on the bike and opened up an 11-minute lead to start the run. She sailed the rest of the way on foot, leaving the women fighting for second place and passing several men.

“I’m so proud of what I achieved today,” Wellington said. “I want to thank my family and friends for coming all this way to support me, along with the crowd who were the wings beneath my wings when I needed them most.”

Wellington began the bike in eighth place and quickly moved into second by the 10-mile mark, trailing Lucie Zelenkova. A few miles later, Wellington blew past Zelenkova along Queen Kaahumanu Highway for the lead and built a comfortable cushion over Canada’s Tereza Macel by the turnaround.

After a bike split of 4:52:07, her lead grew to more than 17 minutes just 10 miles into the run.

Spain’s Virginia Berasategui finished third and Macel was fourth.

Yvonne Van Vlerken, who finished second last year, pulled out of the race after having mechanical problems with her bicycle gears.

A field of 164 pros were among the 1,800 triathletes from 58 countries that began the race just as the sun rose above Mount Hualalai.