There was much excitement heading into IRONMAN Cozumel about the full-distance debut of newly-crowned T100 champion Marten Van Riel, but it was a painful day in Mexico for the Belgian superstar.

The 31-year-old lined up in North America just seven days after his Grand Final victory in Dubai, taking what he described as a “lucky shot” at claiming a slot for next year’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice.

But after leading out of the swim and for most of the bike leg, disaster apparently befell Van Riel to leave his compatriot Bart Aernouts to take an impressive victory.

Germany’s Anne Reischmann ran out an impressive winner of the race for Pro Women, taking control by turning a near six-minute deficit after the swim into a four-minute advantage with the day’s fastest bike split.

Pro Men – Bart brilliant as MVR bid scuppered

The Cozumel current is well known – it helped Kristian Blummenfelt clock a remarkable 39:41 swim three years ago en route to that mind-boggling 7:21:12 in this race. Van Riel pretty much matched that as he arrived alone into T1 after a 39:48.

The Belgian continued to lead alone for most of the bike leg, but his victory hopes were dashed in the final stages as he lost more than 20 minutes due to a bike crash (more details on that here). He would continue though to complete the race in seventh place after producing a 2:39:38 marathon. Not quite enough to claim one of the five allocated Nice slots.

At the front it was another Belgian Aernouts who claimed an excellent victory, coming home just under six minutes in front of American Chris Leiferman. He had produced the day’s best bike leg (4:07:19) before powering clear of Leiferman and last year’s winner Leon Chevalier on the run to win in a time of 7:39:24.

Pro Women – Comprehensive win for Reischmann

Reischmann was 5:53 down on leader Julie Iemmolo (FRA) and in 13th place exiting the water, but she wasted no time on the bike in putting herself in contention for the win. She surged through the field with the fastest split of the day (4:41:00) to enter T2 with a lead of just over four minutes on Iemmolo with Austria’s Lisa Perterer close behind.

Perterer moved into second and another French star in the shape of Justine Mathieux surged into the final podium position as both passed Iemmolo. But at the front Reischmann was relentless as she came home for a comfortable victory by just over six minutes.

IRONMAN Cozumel 2024 Results

Sunday November 24, 2024 – Cozumel, Mexico

Pro Men

• 1. Bart Aernouts (BEL) – 7:39:24 (44:52 / 4:07:19 / 2:43:03)
• 2. Chris Leiferman (USA) – 7:45:12 (44:48 / 4:08:35 / 2:47:46)
• 3. Leon Chevalier (FRA) – 7:46:58 (44:52 / 4:07:41 / 2:50:35)
• 4. Dario Giovine (ITA) – 7:50:17 (44:54 / 4:13:53 / 2:46:29)
• 5. Dominik Sowieja (GER) – 7:50:52 (44:46 / 4:13:58 / 2:47:41)

Pro Women

• 1. Anne Reischmann (GER) – 8:38:08 (50:39 / 4:41:00 / 3:02:03)
• 2. Lisa Perterer (AUT ) – 8:44:24 (47:00 / 4:48:12 / 3:03:34)
• 3. Justine Mathieux (FRA) – 8:51:03 (47:36 / 4:48:15 / 3:09:13)
• 4. Julie Iemmolo (FRA) – 8:59:51 (44:46 / 4:50:28 / 3:20:00)
• 5. Elisabetta Curridori (ITA) – 9:01:28 (50:37 / 4:57:07 / 3:08:46)