Daniela Ryf got stung badly by jellyfish during the swim and considered quitting at T1. She decided to push on and smashed her own course record by 20 minutes. Se finished in 8hours 26min 18sec. Second, was Lucy Charles in 8hours 36min 32sec. Third, was Anne Haug in 8hours 41min 57sec.
I don't know about everyone else in the world attempting to follow the race via the FaceBook Live feed, but even with a fiber optic internet connection, it was immensely frustrating to follow the commentary. Five words of commentary followed by 20 or more seconds of buffering and a jump ahead meant not being able to follow the live commentary at all.
The athletes, however, faced a far greater challenge on the Big Island. A calm sea and overcast conditions with almost no wind meant swim and bike course records would be in jeopardy.
Swim
Immediately from the gun, it was Lucy Charles that dominated the swim. It took no more than a hundred yards or so to get clear water between her and everybody else.
By the end of the swim, Lucy Charles was first out in a new record time of 48min 13sec. That was almost three minutes clear of Lauren Brandon in second and notably 10min clear of defending champion Daniela Ryf.
Bike
Daniela Ryf put her head down and pushed an estimated 240 watts on the bike. By the start of the climb to Hawi at 41 miles, she was already in second place. Charles still had a buffer of 8min 02sec on Ryf.
By the time Ryf got back down the hill to the Queen K highway, she had closed the gap down to 4min 49sec. Lucy Charles started slowing slightly and by 87 miles her lead was cut in half, down to 2min 38sec.
Ryf made the pass with less than 10 miles to go on the bike and held her pace to be first off the bike with a new bike course record of 4hours 26min 07sec. Lucy Charles came in 1min 32sec off the pace.
Run
Ryf extended that gap by a further 18sec within the first two miles of the run.
From there it was the Daniela show with her lead extending mile by mile.
By the time the runners had got back to the Queen K from the energy lab Lucy Charles' second place looked secure with close to 9 minutes advantage to the faster runners in her wake. She gave up just three of those minutes over the closing 8 miles.
Top 10:
1. Daniela Ryf 8:26:16
2. Lucy Charles 8:36:32
3. Anne Haug 8:41:57
4. Sarah True 8:43:42
5. Mirinda Carfrae 8:50:44
6. Sarah Crowley 8:52:29
7. Kaisa Sali 8:54:26
8. Angela Naeth 8:57:34
9. Corinne Abraham 8:57:54
10. Linsey Corbin 8:58:57
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