Ben Hamilton and Milan Agnew have won the men’s and women’s professional races at IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast, with both athletes claiming their first ever IRONMAN 70.3 race victories on Sunday.
New Zealand’s Hamilton crossed the line in 3:39:17, a minute and a half ahead of defending champion Nick Thompson, with Sam Osborne finishing in third.
Osborne was the first out of the water following the 1.9km swim, with Thompson and Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Once onto the bike the pack closed up quickly with just eleven seconds separating the top five through the halfway point.
Thompson was first back to transition with Hamilton and Osborne hot on his heels. Osborne was first to make a move, pushing ahead before Hamilton reeled him and kicked on to take the finish tape alongside Mooloolaba Beach.
“I’m feeling pretty, pretty good, on top of the world, first Pro win which is really special,” said Hamilton. “I probably had the best swim that I’ve ever had, I know I’ve been swimming a lot better and to come out with the front pack was really good. I got out onto the bike and got to work straight away with Nick Thompson and Jack Sosinski, it was us three driving the group for most of the way, I think we rode under two hours and at the start of the run felt that the legs were a little bit heavy but they loosened up throughout and I just paced myself well and got the win.”
Hamilton has only recently stepped up into the professional ranks, with the 25-year-old taking out the age-group race on the Sunshine Coast just two years ago.
“It’s really cool, I was overall age-group winner two years ago and that was only my second IRONMAN 70.3 so it’s been a hell of a journey to get here, to step up, take my Pro license and come here and get the win is really special,” he said. “This is a really positive sign, if I can swim like that continuously now I’ll be really happy, still a lot of work to do over the full distance, Kona is the next objective and then Taupō is a big race at the end of the year.”
Queensland’s Milan Agnew won the women’s race in 4:07:51, less than 30 seconds ahead of Sophie Malowiecki with Radka Kahlefeldt a further two minutes behind in third.
Malowiecki led the pack back onto the beach following the swim, with Agnew almost a minute down in seventh. Agnew did not waste any time bridging the gap, with the top five women swapping positions throughout the 90km bike leg.
Agnew was first back to transition, going on to run most of the 21.1km to the finish side-by-side with Malowiecki before pushing ahead in the closing stages to take not only her first win, but her first professional podium finish.
“I’m really happy and proud that I was able to do it today, this is as close to home as I’m going to get so I’m going to call this my home race, and to come here for the first time and get the top step is pretty special,” said Agnew. “The swim was choppy, I have really bad eyesight so I found it quite hard to see coming back into the beach but I was on feet which was good and then I had to work hard on the first lap of the bike because there was a group of us who were about 30 seconds down and there was five of us who rode together and then Soph and I ran together for an hour ten, an hour fifteen, and then I thought come on Milan one more push and I held it off.”
Agnew enjoyed running alongside Malowiecki for much of the run.
“This is my first year of IRONMAN 70.3s so this is my third one and every race is different but I’ve never had someone to run with for the majority of the race, it was nice because Soph is one of my good friends so that was cool, but it was also hard, it was definitely one of the hardest IRONMAN 70.3s that I’ve done,” she said. “It’s super special, this is my first year and I’m just learning, seeing how this whole distance works, I’m really happy to be in a nice environment, with my coach and to have my family support me is really nice.”
Over 1,600 athletes took on IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast on Sunday, with the event being run for the 11th time.
For more information visit ironman.com/im703-sunshine-coast
Professional Men’s Results
Ben Hamilton – 3:39:17
Nick Thompson – 3:40:53
Sam Osborne – 3:42:38
Jonathan Sammut – 3:43:51
Jack Sosinski – 3:46:09
Hamish Longmuir – 3:48:19
Harry Sinclair – 3:49:04
Jarrod Osborne – 3:49:41
Daniel McDonnell – 3:50:36
Tom Somerville – 3:52:13
Professional Women’s Results
Milan Agnew – 4:07:51
Sophie Malowiecki – 4:08:16
Radka Kahlefeldt – 4:10:20
Natalie Van Coevorden – 4:11:40
Chloe Hartnett – 4:15:22
Hannah Knighton – 4:18:00
Emily Donker – 4:24:49
Cassandra Heaslip – 4:27:15
Paige Cranage – 4:29:29
Kate Bevilaqua – 4:36:09
