Tomas Hernandez Rodriguez produced a memorable performance at the IRONMAN North American Championship in Texas, as the Mexican took his first full distance victory.

Beating two-time IRONMAN World Champion Patrick Lange and breaking the run course record, Rodriguez made up a huge deficit off the bike to take the tape in the Lone Star State.

In second, Lange bounced back after his 16th place finish at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside, with Frenchman Clement Mignon rounding out the podium.

Swim – Koolhaas shows his strength in the water

Dutch professional Menno Koolhaas led in the water in Texas, with a front pack of five including home favourite Matthew Marquardt opening up a small gap through the first half of the swim.

Splitting a rapid 48:04, Koolhaas led German Florian Angert, Serbian Ognjen Stojanovic, American Simon Shi and Marquardt, with the next best placed pro half a minute down.

In the chase pack, Braden Currie exited the water in tenth, +0:56 down, with Patrick Lange coming out right alongside him. Hernandez was also alongside the two leading contenders into T1.

Further back, Frenchman Clement Mignon was +3:35 back, with Chris Leiferman +6:01 down and Joe Skipper of Great Britain +8:13 behind the leaders after the 3.8km swim.

Bike – Marquardt makes his mark

In a similar fashion to last season, Marquardt demonstrated his incredible power on two wheels, but unlike 2023, nobody could stick with him, as the medical student opened up a big gap early on.

After 20km on the bike, Marquardt had +1:20 over Angert, Koolhaas and Australian Nick Thompson, with his lead holding steady at around a minute to the chase pack until Sweden’s Robert Kallin reeled him in at the 100km mark.

Together, the duo then pressed on and extended their buffer over the chasers, which was led by Mignon and Angert, with Rodriguez the next best placed athlete more than ten minutes in arrears.

Coming into transition, Marquardt had some breathing space over Kallin, with a +1:36 gap through T2, and a +7:34 lead back to Clement Mignon in third place.

Further back, the devastation caused by Marquardt and Kallin on the bike was clear, with Angert +9:56 back in fourth, Rodriguez +12:45 down in fifth and Lange almost 15 minutes down in eight.

Run – Rodriguez breaks run course record on way to victory

Running well early on, Marquardt continued to build his gap over Kallin, but started to struggle with cramps before the halfway mark, as Rodriguez and Lange started to make inroads into his lead.

Remarkably, Rodriguez was out splitting Lange, widely regarded as the best runner in the sport, and by the 27km mark had reduced Marquardt’s 13 minute lead over him to dust, making the pass with ten miles to go.

Looking at one point like he would break 2:30 for the marathon, Rodriguez pressed on, as Lange and Mignon made their moves on Marquardt and pushed up into second and third place.

Struggling with the hot early pace in the closing stages, Rodriguez started slowly to lose ground to Lange, who moved up to within a minute and a half, but the two-time IRONMAN World Champion ended up running out of real estate.

Taking the tape in style, Rodriguez won his first full distance title and displayed his brilliant bounce back ability, having finished 45th three weeks ago at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside.

In second, Lange moved into the top spot in the IRONMAN Pro Series, with Mignon rounding out the podium in fourth, just a fortnight after a difficult race at the Singapore T100 Triathlon World Tour.

IRONMAN Texas – North American Championship 2024

Saturday April 27, 2022 – 3.8km / 180km / 42.2km

PRO Men

• 1. Tomas Rodriguez Hernandez (MEX) – 7:42:38
• 2. Patrick Lange (GER) – 7:44:14
• 3. Clement Mignon (FRA) – 7:48:37
• 4. Matthew Marquardt (USA) – 7:49:10
• 5. Robert Kallin (SWE) – 7:51:25