Caroline Steffen wins Ironman 70.3 Sunshine Coast title

The recent dominance of IRONMAN 70.3 racing by ex and current short course athletes continued today in Mooloolaba at IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast.

In the women’s race it was one for the IRONMAN athletes with Switzerland’s Caroline Steffen out-pointing former short course star Czech athlete Radka Vodickova. Defending champion, New Zealand’s, Gina Crawford rounded out the podium.

Vodickova is proving to be a threat in every IRONMAN 70.3 she contests, and coming off a 6th at the last weekends IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in Mont Tremblant, Canada, she was riding a wave of confidence.

That confidence carried her through the swim and she exited with a 27-second lead over Switzerland’s Caroline Steffen and defending champion New Zealand’s Gina Crawford a further 2:40 back.

Steffen then used her bike strength to quickly bridge the gap and the two rode together hitting the run course within seconds of each other.

Crawford worked hard on the bike to get back to just one minute behind.

Onto the run and it was the strength and experience of Steffen, who is based on the Sunshine Coast that allowed her to instantly pull away from Vodickova.

“It’s a home race and to be able to race and win in front of all of my friends is just crazy,” she said.

“I am really happy and had a good day out there.”

Vodikova was delighted she has able to spend most of the day within striking distance of an athlete of Steffen’s pedigree.

“I was able to try and stay with Caroline, and she is strong, so that makes me happy.”

“I am really pleased to make the podium here today.”

Steffen’s attention now turns to the IRONMAN World Championships in Hawaii on October 11.

“My focus is now on Kona in 4 weeks and I came here today to see if my form was ready,” Steffen said.

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