Antonio Benito wins the IRONMAN Vitoria

Antonio Benito has conquered this Sunday the HOMBRE DE HIERRO from Vitoria, achieving not only a victory that puts him back in the international spotlight, but also his qualification for the World Championship in Hawaii.

With an exceptional time of 7h36, the 29-year-old triathlete from La Mancha secured one of the three slots up for grabs in Vitoria for the world competition to be held on October 26.

The man from Tomelloso had an impeccable race from start to finish. In the swimming segment, Benito completed the 3,8 km in 46:30, placing him in fourth position, just over a minute behind the Slovakian Richard Varga, who led this first segment with record time.

During the cycling segment, the Nordic triathletes dominated the test, with the Swedish robert callin in the lead and the Danes Kristian Høgenhaug y Mathias Petersen following him closely.

Benito remained in the top positions, completing the cycle in 4h07 and arriving at T2 in seventh position, accompanied by the Australian Cameron Wurf and the South African Bradley Weiss.

A critical moment of the race was the disqualification of the Frenchman Sam Laidlow, the current IRONMAN world champion. Laidlow received a drafting penalty and, by failing to stop at the penalty spot, he was disqualified. However, he continued in the race unofficially, leading until the last kilometers of the marathon.

In the foot race, his specialty, Benito began to climb positions quickly. Wurf and Weiss and after 10 km he was already in third position.

At kilometer 30, Benito took the lead, completing the marathon in a time of 2h37:37, winning the test with a total time of 7:36:38, establishing a new Spanish record in the test and becoming the Fastest Spanish triathlete in the IRONMAN distance.

 

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David McNamee (7h41: 20) and Cameron Wurf (7h43:16) completed the podium, while Kristian Høgenhaug y Bradley Weiss They were left out of the slots for Hawaii.

Men's 10 Top

Slot for Hawaii

Next October 26, Antonio Benito will be at the starting line of the World Cup IRONMAN of Hawaii, an achievement that crowns a spectacular year for the triathlete from La Mancha, who has also won the European Middle Distance Championships and the Zarautz Triathlon.

Kat Matthews wins the women's event

In the women's category of the IRONMAN Vitoria, Kat matthews took victory with a time of 8:24:23, followed by Els Visser with 8: 32: 29 and Ruth Astle completing the podium with 8:38:07.

Daniela Bleymehl y Simone Mitchell They took fourth and fifth place with times of 8:41:12 and 8:41:39, respectively.

The Spanish Gurutze Frades, last year's winner, finished in eighth position with a time of 8:54:01

Top 10 female