TRIATHLON – Ironman Hawaii 2019: Laurent Jalabert 2nd behind Frenchman Anthony Philippe –

After winning the Ironman 70.3 World Championship title for the 50-54 age group in Nice five weeks ago, Laurent Jalabert was aiming for a new world title last night, this time over the full distance (3.8-180-42.195), but the title went to another Frenchman: Anthony Philippe, who had taken 3rd place in Nice!

Coming out of the water in 106th place in 1h10’59, “Jaja” made his usual spectacular comeback on the bike and reached T2 in 2nd position, 2’56 behind Switzerland’s Stephan Meinecke.

Anthony Philippe, for his part, exited the swim in 35th position in 1h02’47 and racked his bike in 4th position, 8’06 behind the Swiss.

He then caught Laurent Jalabert at the 17th km and then overtook the leader, still Stephan Meinecke, at the halfway point of the marathon.

Anthony Philippe then steadily increased his lead at the front of the race: 3’16 at the 28th km, 6’10 at the 33rd km, and then 7’42 at the 38th km.

Thanks to an excellent marathon run in 3h08’10, Anthony Philippe finally won after 9h32’29 of effort and became Ironman World Champion in the 50-54 age group.

Long positioned just seconds from 2nd place, Laurent Jalabert was able to overtake the Swiss at the 39th km and thus climb to the 2nd step of the podium.

THE PODIUM
1. Anthony Philippe (Fra), 9h32’29
2. Laurent Jalabert (Fra), 9h40’53 +8’23
3. Stephan Meinecke (Sui), 9h41’57 +9’27

COMPLETE RANKING FOR THIS AGE GROUP HERE