Ben Hoffman emptied his tank to find a 2:40:20 marathon just enough to fend off Magnus Ditlev’s 2:40:56 run. Fourteen seconds separated the two tri-warriors as they fell exhausted in the searing Texas sun just past the finish line. Hoffman finished in 7:57:58. And after losing 7 minutes to a flat tire, Ditlev somehow found his brave run in his very first Ironman came just short of victory.
After the tumult and the shouting and drama of the men’s contest, Jocelyn McCauley’s victory march ended on a serene and calm note of understated excellence. McCauley combined a women’s third-best 56:08 swim, a women’s-fastest 4:43:04 bike split, and a women’s 4th best 3:13:51 marathon to round out a 8:58:13 finish with a 12:29 margin over runner-up Lauren Brandon.
The two winners earned $15,000 each for their triumphs.
Men
Richard Varga, a long time Olympic distance Slovakian in one of his first forays in the Ironman game, led the swim with a 47:47 split that gave him a 1 second margin on Alexander Berggren of Sweden, 32 seconds on Sam Laidlow of France, 2:42 on 5th-best Jesper Svensson of Sweden, 4:46 on 10th fastest Hoffman, 4:47 on 11th best Cody Beals of Canada and 4:52 on the 15th-quickest swim of Ditlev.
Sam Laidlow’s second best 4:17:01 bike split and a quick transition was enough to give Laidlow a 1 second lead over Varga at T1, and gave the duo a 7:25 lead on Ditlev, 7:27 on Hoffman, and 7:43 on Svensson. An unfortunate flat tire that cost 7 minutes to replace threatened to leave Ditlev out of contention. But it set up a duel for the ages on the run as Hoffman and Ditlev started the run 7:25 back of the leader and two seconds apart.
After Laidlow and Varga faded from contention, Svensson and Cody Beals were 10:55 and 11:56 back of the fast-disappearing duo of Hoffman and Ditlev. As they pushed to their limits, Hoffman and Ditlev stuck to one another like glue until the final kilometer.
Ditlev made the first move, but he only managed a 10-meter gap. Then Hoffman surged and broke the invisible link between the two. Hoffman looked strong while Ditlev bent over and struggled in 14 seconds back of the winner.
Women
Lauren Brandon, long seen as a swim specialist with decent bike strength, opened with an expected superior 50:31 swim that gave her a 4 seconds margin on fellow U.S. competitor Rachel Zilinskas and 5:36 on McCauley.
While Brandon followed with a quite respectable 4:55:19 bike split, and Jen Annett rode 4:57:32, Danielle Lewis joined the fray with 4:48:50 and Dede Griesbauer gave chase with a 4:50:34. But McCauley blew the race apart with a stellar 4:43:04 rocket ride that gave her a 7:04 lead on Brandon, 11:46 on Griesbauer, 14:56 on Lewis and 23:53 on Annett.
Joanna Ryter of Switzerland bid high to get in the game with a race-best 3:02:53 run that brought her up to 3rd, and Ai Ueda ran 3:05:46 to advance to 7th, but McCauley gently shut the door on all pursuers with a 3rd-fastest 3:13:51 marathon that brought her home in 8:58:13 with a 12:29 margin over runner-up Brandon (3:19:31 run) and 15:21 over third place finisher Joanna Ryter.
Ironman Texas
The Woodlands, Texas
April 23, 2022
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Men's Results
1. Ben Hoffman (USA) S 52:33 T1 2:42 B 4:19:45 T2 2:40 R 2:40:20 TOT 7:57:58
2. Magnus Ditlev (DEN) S 52:40 T1 1:56 B 4:20:23 T2 2:19 R 2:40:56 TOT 7:58:12
3. Jesper Svensson (SWE) S 50:29 T1 2:02 B 4:22:46 T2 2:03 R 2:51:37 TOT 8:08:54
4. Cody Beals (CAN) S 52:34 T1 2:07 B 4:27:13 T2 2:11 R 2:45:51 TOT 8:09:55
5. Tomasz Szala (POL) S 52:37 T1 2:23 B 4:27:01 T2 2:29 R 2:51:09 TOT 8:15:38
6. Trevor Foley (USA) S 58:00 T1 2:19 B 4:26:07 T2 1:55 R 2:49:37 TOT 8:17:57
7. Andreas Jung (GER) S 52:45 T1 2:04 B 4:22:33 T2 2:14 R 2:59:56 TOT 8:19:30
8. Pamphiel Pareyn (BEL) S 50:46 T1 2:00 B 4:31:05 T2 2:40 R 2:53:57 TOT 8:20:26
9. Matt Russell (USA) S 57:57 T1 2:02 B 4:19:32 T2 3:38 R 2:58:52 TOT 8:21:59
10. Milan Brons (NED) S 52:32 T1 2:35 B 4:22:23 T2 2:18 R 3:04:38 TOT 8:24:25
Women
1. Jocelyn McCauley (USA) S 56:08 T1 2:11 B 4:43:04 T2 3:02 R 3:13:51 TOT 8:58:13
2. Lauren Brandon (USA) S 50:31 T1 2:37 B 4:55:19 T2 2:47 R 3:19:31 TOT 9:10:43
3. Joanna Ryter (SUI) S 1:05:16 T1 2:03 B 5:00:58 T2 2:17 R 3:02:53 TOT 9:13:24
4. Rachel Zilinskas (USA) S 50:35 T1 2:26 B 5:07:07 T2 3:40 R 3:19:50 TOT 9:23:36
5. Jen Annett (CAN) S 1:05:26 B 4:57:32 T2 2:14 R 3:18:24 TOT 9:25:52
6. Jessica Smith (USA) S 1:01:04 T1 2:39 B 5:03:52 T2 2:57 R 3:19:50 TOT 9:30:19
7. Ai Ueda (JPN) S 1:02:52 T1 2:46 B 5:22:57 T2 3:08 R 3:05:46 TOT 9:37:27
8. Alena Sinay (SVK) S 1:05:21 T1 3:01 B 5:01:11 T2 42:47 R 3:30:12 TOT 9:42:31
9. Samantha Snukis (USA) S 1:08:21 T1 3:30 B 5:13:44 T2 3:13 R 3:15:02 TOT 9:43:48
10. Britt Vocke (USA) 57:29 T1 3:11 B 5:14:23 T2 4:10 R 3:25:05 TOT 9:44:15
