More Takeaways from IRONMAN Lake Placid

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Originally published at: More Takeaways from IRONMAN Lake Placid - Slowtwitch News

Solveig Løvseth. Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images for IRONMAN

It might have rained all day, but that didn’t seem to slow the top finishers at IRONMAN Lake Placid very much as a number of course records were broken. Here’s what caught our attention from yesterday’s race:

Solveig Løvseth Shatters the 9 Hour Mark

Solveig Løvseth on the run at IRONMAN Lake Placid. Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for IRONMAN

After her impressive IRONMAN debut in Hamburg where she went 8:12:28 we knew that Løvseth had a fast time in her, but I’m not sure there were many people ready to bet that she would shatter the course record by almost 17 minutes. Prior to Løvseth’s 8:43:29 time the course record had been Sarah True’s 9:00:21 from 2022.

The Norwegian hauled a bunch of people under the nine-hour barrier along the way – Lisa Perterer would go 8:46:50 for second, Marta Sanchez would finish in 8:53:07 and Tamara Jewett would finish in 8:55:18. Fifth place Holly Lawrence was just a shade over nine hours, crossing the line in 9:00:46.

Marquardt and Foley Trade Records

Second place Kristian Høgenhaug of Denmark, first place Matthew Marquardt of United States and third place Trevor Foley of United States. Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images for IRONMAN

Last year Trevor Foley ran his way to the men’s title over Matthew Marquardt, scorching through a 2:36:31 marathon to set a new course record of 7:55:23. On the way Marquardt had set a new bike course record of 4:16:53.

This year Foley overcame a large deficit out of the water and rode his way to the front group, posting an impressive 4:10:45 to shatter Marquardt’s bike course record. After running his way to the lead, though, Foley would fade over the final miles of the marathon and get passed by Marquardt, who would set a new overall course record of 7:50:08.

Marta Sanchez Gets the Bike Course Record

Spain’s Marta Sanchez ended up riding 4:51:25 to break Heather Jackson’s bike course record (4:52:20 from 2022). The Spaniard was just two seconds quicker on the bike than Lisa Perterer, who went 4:51:27, despite having to spend three minutes in the penalty tent.

Lisa Perterer on the bike in Lake Placid. Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images for IRONMAN

Tamara Jewett Runs Third Fastest Run Split of the Day

The Canadian has long been known for her outstanding running ability and she proved that once again with a scorcher of a marathon in Lake Placid. Yes, there have been faster marathon splits than Jewett’s 2:40:05 over the years – Anne Haug went 2:38:52 in Roth last year, while Laura Philipp went 2:38:27 in Hamburg earlier this year – neither of those courses are anywhere near as tough as the one in Lake Placid.

Sadly we didn’t get a chance to see any of Jewett’s impressive run during the live coverage as she was well back after the swim and would run her way from 14th to fourth – it sure would have been fun to witness as she blasted to the day’s third-fastest marathon behind Jason West (more on him below) and Matthew Marquardt.

Dynamite Debuts

Both fifth-place finishers – Holly Lawrence and Jason West – were competing in their first full-distance races. West came oh-so-close to the run course record, finishing the marathon in an impressive 2:37:18 and an overall time of 8:01:59.

Lawrence was pushed to the limit to hang on to fifth as defending champ Danielle Lewis crossed the line just 19 seconds behind her, but her 9:00:46 was enough to hang on.

Both West and Lawrence earned qualifying slots for the worlds in Nice and Kona for their efforts.

Lake Placid Shakes up Pro Standings

After her big win in Cairns, American Jackie Hering wasn’t at her best in the rain in Lake Placid, but her eighth-place finish was enough to move her to the top of the IRONMAN Pro Series Standings. The Lake Placid results also moved Løvseth into third in the standings, Sanchez to fourth and Danielle Lewis to fifth.

Rank     Name (Country)  Total IRONMAN Pro Series Points (Max Top 5 events) Total Eligible Races Scored Eligible IRONMAN Races Scored Eligible IRONMAN 70.3 Races Scored
1 Jackie Hering (USA) 13,116 4 2 2
2 Kat Matthews (GBR) 12,380 3 2 1
3 Anne Reischmann (DEU) 12,310 4 2 2
4 Solveig Løvseth (NOR) 11,945 3 2 1
5 Marta Sanchez (ESP)
 		 11,452 3 2 1

On the men’s side Kristian Høgenhaug’s runner-up finish was enough to move him to the top of the rankings, with Marquardt now a close second, Braden Currie in third, Leon Chevalier in fourth and Henrik Goesch in fifth. All of the top five in the standings now raced in Lake Placid.

Rank     Name (Country)  Total IRONMAN Pro Series Points (Max Top 5 events) Total Eligible Races Scored Eligible IRONMAN Races Scored Eligible IRONMAN 70.3 Races Scored
1 Kristian Høgenhaug (DNK) 11,835 4 3 1
2 Matthew Marquardt (USA) 11,506 4 3 1
3 Braden Currie (NZL) 11,460 4 2 2
4 Leon Chevalier (FRA) 11,381 5 3 2
5 Henrik Goesch (FIN) 10,817 3 2 1

Deep Roll Down

There were four pro slots for both the men and women, but heading into the race a lot of the field had already earned their slots for Nice or Kona. On the men’s side it would appear that Foley, West, Bradley Weiss and Mattia Ceccarelli took their slots for Nice. Cecarelli finished ninth. While Braden Currie might sit in third place in the IRONMAN Pro Series, as far as I can tell he hasn’t got himself a spot for Nice as of yet.

The women’s roll down went really deep. Initially it looked as though the four Kona slots would go to Holly Lawrence, Rebecca Clarke, Nicole Falcaro and Amber Ferreira. (I think Lawrence was the only finisher in the top 13 who hadn’t already got a Kona slot.)

Both Falcaro (16th) and Ferreira (17th) chose not to take the Kona slots.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMX_1q4ROyt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

That means the slots should roll down to Katie Colville (18th) and Erika Danckers (19th), but it would appear that Danckers passed on the slot and it went to Alexandra Watt, who finished 20th.

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How is her first name pronounced?

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What happened to Sarah True? I didn’t hear any mention of her in the broadcast; looks like a DNF.

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It seems crazy that in a 9 hour race we can’t find a way to highlight stories like this on the live broadcast.

When you think about it a bit more, I guess there are some logistical problems? Would there need to be an additional moto per gender that can act as a floater, dedicated to capturing random mid-pack storylines?

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There was a moment where we had 2 competing big wheel camera guys in shot showing Foley at the front on the run. One of them could easily be peeled off, and they did.

I think the issue is more that you don’t know that Jewett is tearing through the field until she does it. You don’t want to reserve one for her (it’s her 2nd Ironman and you don’t know if she’s on a good day) and you want to have your motos on the action.

But I think once it’s apparent she’s on a flier (or once the men are done), you take one of them and stick them on the stories that are developing.

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One of the stories that needs calling out is just how awful the timing splits were for those watching. If they even showed timing splits, they were often wrong or contradicted what the commentators were saying. You had long stretches where they just showed the current placement order - which said nothing and gave no clues about what was actually happening. Then when they did show, it would often be for the first few athletes - just those who’ve come through T2, for example. Which is great, but again, doesn’t tell much of the story.

I’m not going to fault them on the pixelated coverage - it’s a rural area and it was raining. But someone at the IM desk really needs to fix how timing splits are shown on screen.

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Your comment brings up a good point though. Who the hell is producing and directing the race behind the scenes? Because those are the things you absolutely work into the broadcast.

Ironman should look at their epically long race broadcast as a series of stories to tell (indeed, I assume they do). They do their fighting chance thing that sets it up nicely.

It should absolutely be a talking point with in-race resources dedicated to bringing the viewer up to date with how that story is going.

Every race should have a series of stories and talking points that they send a camera to follow.

Lead pack Swim is heading out like we expected, let’s see if we can position the drone in a place where we see Trevor Foley – then carry on with that part of the story.

Same deal with Jewett. They should absolutely have the commentators queued up to talk about her, a minute or two before the bike turns around to find her on the course and, voila, “Look at Tamara flying along, her turnover is beautiful, such amazing leg turnover, she’s almost as fast as Mika Noidt” (ok, I had too much fun with that one, but you get the idea)

And all the more relevant, maybe even better if she’s not having a day of it. They bring the camera back around to her, and she’s struggling, puking, fading, etc, and they can talk about how she is one of the best runners of the sport, but Ironman racing manages to humble everyone at some point, blah blah blah.

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Now that you put it that way, I can see that you’d want to reserve a camera for her. ‘Jewett is the fastest runner but she’s way back, can she do it?’ is good storytelling whether she does it or not. Though my point is that it could have been someone else tearing up the field and you’d probably want a swing camera available to move on them, so some of your resources and some of your storytelling won’t be decided until the story is mostly played out.

On planning, they do some of that during the broadcast - they’ll move the camera onto what you think is a random pro in 6th position and talk about them for a while before panning over to the pre-taped content on them. But you’re right, with a bit of preplanning and some direction, it could be much better.

Edit to add: even if all they did was have one camera on the front person and one camera that moved around to capture developing stories, it would be an improvement.

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Solveig? She pronounces her name Sulvay…

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Looks like her last split on the tracker was at the 87km bike mark, guess she called it a day after the first lap.