Home favourite Kacper Stepniak took the win in the men’s race at IRONMAN 70.3 Warsaw, as Britain’s Lucy Buckingham continued her brilliant return to racing with a big win.
Both winners really put their stamp on the race on the bike course, with Poland’s Stepniak in particular opening up an insurmountable lead on the bike leg to put him out of reach of a fast finishing Dane Miki Taagholt, who in the end had to settle for second ahead of Poland’s Robert Wilkoweicki.
In the women’s race, Lottie Lucas of the United Arab Emirates raced well to finish in second, with Justine Guerard of France holding on for a third place finish in the Polish capital.
Pro Men – Stepniak holds strong
Out of the water in Warsaw, it was Norwegian Jorgen Gundersen who led the way, leading out with a gap of +0:09 to Wilkowiecki, as Stepniak exited slightly further back in third at +0:27 alongside Ukrainian Sergiy Kurochkin and Poland’s Tomasz Brembor. At +1:36, Taagholt was isolated and alone in sixth place heading into transition.
On to the bike, Stepniak quickly began to put his stamp on the race, opening up a gap of close to a minute at the 17km mark, which continued to grow, despite the best efforts of the chasers, reaching +2:55 at 47km, by which point Taagholt had caught Wilkowiecki and Gundersen.
Throughout the latter stages of the bike, the chasers continued to push hard but to no avail, as Stepniak managed to open up a remarkable gap of over six minutes coming into T2, with Wilkowiecki, Taagholt, Gundersen and Brembor all together in the chase pack to set up an exciting run battle for the remaining spots on the podium.
Through halfway, Stepniak had lost two minutes to German Renning Elischer who was working hard in second, but still enjoyed +3:34 buffer, as Taagholt remained at +3:52 and Wilkowiecki even further back at +4:32.
Unfortunately for Elischer, it seemed as if he burnt his matches a little too early, as Taagholt reeled him in by the 17.7km mark to move to within +2:47 of the leader and Wilkowiecki running into third at +3:18.
As Stepniak took a much deserved win following a blistering bike leg, the real battle was unfolding behind, with Taagholt managing to just about hold on to second after a fast finishing Wilkowiecki looked set to catch him, coming up just two seconds short after a super fast last 5km.
Pro Women – Buckingham back with a bang
In the women’s race, it was all Buckingham, as the much loved Brit led from gun to tape to claim her spot for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in Finland this summer.
Following a great swim, where she exited the water with +2:46 to next best placed Maria Czesnik of Poland, Buckingham seemed destined to take the win, with closest rivals Guerard and Lucas coming out of the water +3:30 down.
On to the bike, Team BMC athlete Buckingham continued to extend her lead on most of the field, with Lucas the only one to match the tempo set by the Brit to come into transition at +3:30, with Guerard next in at +7:30, Leonie Konczalla of Germany at +8:29 and the rest of the field more than ten minutes behind.
Once out of transition, Buckingham continued to build on her lead, dominating across all three disciplines as she eventually took the tape close to five minutes ahead of Lucas, with the United Arab Emirates athlete finishing second at +4:36 and Guerard further back in third at +8:11.
IRONMAN 70.3 Warsaw 2023 results
Sunday 11 June 2022 – 1.9km / 90km / 21.1km
Pro Men
- 1. Kacper Stepniak (POL) – 3:37:41
- 2. Miki Taagholt (DEN) – 3:40:05
- 3. Robert Wilkowiecki (POL) – 3:40:07
- 4. Renning Elischer (GER) – 3:41:28
- 5. Jorgen Gundersen (NOR) – 3:42:22
Pro Women
- 1. Lucy Buckingham (GBR) – 4:04:34
- 2. Lottie Lucas (UAE) – 4:09:13
- 3. Justine Guerard (FRA) – 4:12:45
- 4. Leonie Konczalla (GER) – 4:13:51
- 5. Maria Czesnik (POL) – 4:25:39
