Debutante Spaniard breaks Ironman Langkawi record

LANGKAWI, 27 Oct 2019: 

Javier Gomez of Spain won the Ironman Langkawi 2019 professional men’s title in record time yesterday although he was making his debut in the championship.

The International Triathlon Union (ITU) Long Distance World Championship 2019 champion completed the three-discipline race in 8 hours 18 minutes and 58 seconds.

Gomez, 36, smashed the record of 8:32:54 set by Roman Guillaume, 33, of France in 2017.

Gomez walked away with a US$5,000 (RM20,930) cash prize and a medal, which was presented by Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir.

Second was Switzerland’s Philipp Koutny, 36, with a time of 8:24:18 and third was Thiago Vinhal, 36, of Brazil in 8:31:15.

“It was very challenging because of the hot weather and rain did not fall as expected. I fell behind in the cycling discipline but caught up in the running stage by maintaining my tempo.

“After this I will take a break before resuming training for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The experience gained in Ironman Langkawi will help me there,” said Gomez.

In the women’s professional category, Tessa Kortekaas, 31, of the Netherlands finished first in a time of 9 hrs 43 min and 19 sec.

“This is my first year as a professional athlete and I’m very happy to have finished first. I trained hard for this race and my effort has paid off.”

Second was Japan’s Naomi Washizu, 36, in a time of 9:52:00 and third was Simona Krivankova, 36, of Czech Republic in 9:59:27.

They received the same amount in cash prizes as the men’s winners.

The event, which involved a 3.8km swim, 180km of cycling and a 42.2km run, offered prize money totalling US$25,000 and the top two finishers qualified for the Ironman World championship in Kona, Hawaii.

– Bernama