Raelert and Tisseyre win at Miami 70.3 on return from injury

Both male and female winners of Ironman 70.3 Miami have returned from early season injuries to finish atop of the podium today in Miami.

Men’s race

Michael Raelert, a two time Ironman 70.3 Champion, left the water 40 seconds down on race leader David Kahn (USA), amongst the company of Australian Richie Cunningham, Matty Reed (USA), Yunior Rosete (USA), Fabio Cavalho (BRA) and Andres Latorre (COL).

• Onto the bike Kahn, Raelert and Cunningham extended their lead to over two minutes leading into transition two, with a chase pack of seven athletes looking to chase down on the run.

However it was all Raelert once on foot, running clear of Kahn and Cunningham to finish atop the podium with a finishing time of 3:43:38. A fading Kahn saw Australia’s Richie Cunningham finish second in 3:47:05, and Viktor Zyemstev ran through the field to close off the podium in 3:48:11. Kahn faded to fourth, finishing just seven seconds back of Zyemstev.

Women’s race

Dr Amanda Stevens (USA) led the women out of the water, with fellow American Lauren Goss just three seconds back on her heels. A chase pack of five women exited less than a minute down, seeing eventual winner Magali Tissyre (CAN), Leanda Cave (GBR), Jenny Leiser (USA, Carla Moreno (BRA) and Laurel Wassner (USA) all in pursuit of the leaders.

Tisseyre and Cave quickly joined Stevens and Goss to lead the way on the bike, entering transition two all within 3o seconds of each other, and with a commanding lead.

Tisseyre ran away from her rivals to finish with a 3:30 win over Goss in 2nd, with an equally large gap back to Stevens in 3rd. Leanda Cave faded to fourth, with Laurel Wassner finishing in fifth position.