Badmann wins Californian Ironman
Switzerland's Natascha Badmann has won the California Ironman contest, a triathlon event which ended on Saturday in Camp Pendleton.
Twice winner of Hawaii’s own version of the Ironman contest, the thirty-four-year-old Swiss proved she had the strength to win over her rivals and take the title in California for the first time.
Badmann easily outclassed her nearest rival, Zimbabwe’s Paula Newby-Fraser, winning the triathlon in 9 hours 18 minutes and 48 seconds. Newby-Fraser, who has won the Hawaii Ironman contest no less than eight times, was unable to reproduce her top-class form in California.
She finished the event fourteen minutes behind Badmann, while the United States’ Beth Zinkand was third.
Badmann led from the start but showed off her winning form in the cycling section when she built up a commanding lead over her opponents.
Men and women compete for separate Ironman titles, but the course for both is identical: a 3.8-kilometre swim is followed by a 180-kilometre bike ride and then a final, gruelling 42-kilometre run.
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