“I wish I could put into words how I feel right now,” Alexander said at the finish. “This record wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the spectators on the final two miles. I can’t thank my family and my supporters enough.”

The only question that remained was whether or not he would make it back to the pier in Kailua-Kona in a record-setting time.

The celebration continued for Australia as 30-year-old Pete Jacobs came across the line in second, posting the fastest run split of the day for the second consecutive year. Jacobs’ 2:42:29 marathon put him at the finish five minutes and 15 seconds after his countryman. Germany’s Andreas Raelert, last year’s runner-up, rounded out the podium, finishing two minutes back of Jacobs.

Alexander’s victory came on the heels of what was by far his strongest bike leg ever in Hawaii. His 4:24:05 bike split was more than 13 minutes faster than he had ever ridden in Hawaii. Crowie started the ride only two minutes back of swim leader Andy Potts of the U.S., who led the men out of the water in 49:44. Potts maintained the lead until the 20-mile marker, where he was overtaken by a group that included a number of the race’s top contenders, including Alexander, Raelert, Belgium’s Marino Vanhoenacker, American Chris Lieto, South African Raynard Tissink and Luxembourg’s Dirk Bockel.

The group remained in a relatively tight bunch past the 56-mile turnaround at Hawi, at which point Lieto, in typical fashion, moved to the front of the race and began pushing the pace. Lieto’s lead grew throughout the second half of the ride, but not at the same rate as in years past. He wrapped up the bike in 4:18:31, just eight seconds shy of Normann Stadler’s 2006 course record. Lieto’s incredible ride gave him a lead of almost six minutes at the start of the run, but it would be short-lived, thanks to the incredible early marathon pace of Alexander.

The Aussie opened up the run with a 5:38 mile, and by mile four he found himself alone in the lead, pulling away from everyone except for Jacobs and Raelert. Both men actually made up time on Alexander during the second four-mile stretch back up Ali’I Drive, but once Alexander turned up the hill on Palani Road, he began to stretch his lead. By the halfway point of the run Alexander’s lead was up to 2:34 over Raelert, who was struggling to hang onto second place over Jacobs.

As is almost always the case, Kona’s Natural Energy Lab proved to be the decisive section of the run. Crowie made the left hand turn into the Lab with a gap of just under four minutes over Raelert. By the time he wrapped up the three-mile out-and-back, Jacbos had moved into second, but was almost five minutes behind. Raelert, struggling with the oppressive conditions of the Lab for the second straight year turned back onto the Queen K Highway almost six minutes down.

The win was never in doubt for Crowie on the final 10K stretch. The only question that remained was whether or not he would make it back to the pier in Kailua-Kona in a record-setting time. Fighting off hamstring cramps throughout the final two miles, Crowie sprinted through the final stretch along Ali’i Drive to stop the clock 12 seconds faster than Van Lierde had in 1996.

Although Raelert recovered well from his breakdown in the Energy Lab, he wasn’t able to catch Jacobs over the final six miles. Jacobs’ 8:09:11 finish was by far the best of his career and it bodes well for Australia’s continued success in Hawaii. Raelert’s 8:11:07 finishing time was more than a minute better than last year, but only good enough for third this year. Bockel was next to cross the line in 8:12:58, a big improvement from his eighth-place finish a year ago. Veteran German Timo Bracht rounded out the top five in 8:20:12.

Watch a video of Crowie finishing, here.