Our athletes in shape and ready to roll in Mexico!Unfortunately Vadim gets sick shortly after arrival and is having fever 1day before the race. A no go for him to race Ironman today! Luckily Vadim already qualified for Kona 2022 earlier.In the female race Cai gets to the start with confidence and race experience after Cozumel 2021. A lot of strong AG women racing this race, one of the last race to already qualify for Kona 22 this year. Cai has a good swim and gets out of the water in 11th position before she powers herself to the front of the race on the bike. Keeping herself in 4th to 5th position throughout the whole bikesection. During the marathon Cai lost a few place and was sure not running her fastest marathon today but maintained well and finishes 11th her AG!In the male race both Thibaud and Sam get out of the water very well, thibaud in 7th AG position, Sam already 14th.

Thibaud was pacing well and after 1/3 he found himself aroun 12th AG position, pacing perfectly. Unfortunately he had a flat tyre a few kilometers later. With a 10’loss of time and changing tyres he could restart his race in 50th position. Sam from his side had a very strong ride, and moved up to 3rd place after 40K, to already being in the lead after 55K. His steady bike effort of +/-255NP on this flat course made him make a significant gap with his nearest opponents in his AG and also move up strongly in GC. Both athletes had a good run in their legs, with a good strategy on the bike and enough nutrition in the body they started steady. Sam came out of T2 @ 4’10-4’15/km, which of course is very fast in Ironman and let drop the pace a bit towards 4’20-4’30/km!

This made him finish his marathon in 3h08′ and taking victory in his AG! A great feeling after 2years away from IM! With a 8h26′ he comes close to his fastest race (IM Texas 2018) and gets sub 8h30 again!

Thibaud from his side was keen on approaching towards the 9h mark, after his flat tyre things could get difficult to approach this. But a perfectly balanced run in which he ran between 4’30 and 4’35/km he managed a 3h10′ marathon. Which for thibaud is a huge step in Full distance racing and not cracking down! He had to push in the end, but leaves Cozumel with a 8h55′ Ironman and will be found in Kona ’22 upcoming season!