IRONMAN Lake Placid 2021: Norden beats Heather, Skipper third

Lisa Norden beat Heather Jackson to claim victory on her full-distance debut at IRONMAN Lake Placid 2021, while Britain’s Joe Skipper took third in the men’s race behind another Swede, Rasmus Svenningsson.

Norden, stepping up in distance at the age of 36, made an impressive bow while Skipper just could not reproduce the Herculean effort he gave to claw back an astonishing victory at IRONMAN UK in Bolton just three weeks ago.

Women – Norden too good

Lisa was third out of the water on her eagerly-awaited full-distance debut, her 51:39 leaving her just over four minutes behind American Lauren Brandon and just over two minutes shy of Brazil’s Pamella Oliveira.

The three-time Olympian took total control on the bike leg though, producing the best split of the day (4:55:26) to lead by more than six minutes going into the run. American Heather Jackson was now her nearest challenger after a 4:57:06 bike leg.

Norden was ice cool on the run to slightly extend her advantage over Heather to win by more than seven minutes. Her 3:16:14 marathon completed a winning effort of 9:11:26. Jackson meanwhile was clearly affected late in the run by the humidity and conditions – stopping to stretch out cramps before finishing the course.

Switzerland’s Joanna Ryter produced an excellent marathon of 2:57:31 to storm through and claim the final podium spot. Oliveira was fourth, while Dede Griesbauer – taking a break from the commentary booth to compete – finished fifth.

Men – how Swede it is

Svenningsson – third at IRONMAN 70.3 Dubai in March – was eighth out of the water in 49:29 – just under three minutes behind the leader, Hungarian Balazs Csoke.

The Swede though was at the head of the field by the time the bike leg concluded thanks to a split of 4:26:09. He led by just over two minutes from Frenchman Arnaud Guilloux heading into T2, with another Frenchman Roman Guillaume a couple of minutes further back.

Skipper meanwhile had improved to fourth thanks to a big leg of 4:35:36 – but he still trained Svenningsson by more than 12 minutes.

Joe would then produce the best run of the day – 2:49:04 – and while it was good enough to move him into the final podium spot, it was not enough to put pressure on the front two.

Svenningsson himself produced a fine 2:51:05 to come home in front, just under 10 minutes clear of Guilloux in second spot.