Photo by Larry Rosa/EnduraPix.com

Sometimes the hardest victory is the sweetest one, as four-time Ironman world champion Chrissie Wellington learned today. After exiting the water almost 10 minutes behind of fellow Brit Julie Dibens, it seemed as if she was all but down for the count, but after a phenomenal bike and brilliant effort on the run, the Brit managed to eek out her closest win yet—beating out defending champion Mirinda Carfrae of Australia by less than three minutes in 8:55:08.

But today was a day of phenomenal racing across the women’s field, starting with standout swimming and bike performances by Dibens—splits that threw the entire field for a loop and set the scene for the closest Ironman win among all of Wellington’s 12 Ironman titles. The Brit started the day exiting the water 10th overall in 51:58, and topped that off with a day in the lava fields picking lead men off with the fastest women’s bike split of the day in 4:44:14.

Swiss Miss Caroline Steffen was the only one even remotely in Dibens’ wake, and she managing to hold a second-place position for much of the bike, entering T2 roughly 12 minutes behind her, followed a few minutes later by the other British superstars of the day, Leanda Cave and Rachel Joyce. Meanwhile—at 22 and 25 minutes back of Dibens heading back into town—rolled Wellington and Carfrae, waiting for the run to really settle the score.

Within the first two miles of the last leg, it was clear that this race would be won on the run—with Wellington and Carfrae clocking sub-6-minute miles, and almost instantly gaining minutes on Dibens, Steffen, Joyce and Cave. By the 8-mile-mark, Steffen had overtaken a weakening Dibens, who would soon after drop out due to medical complications, ending her day in the hospital. Steffen was followed shortly after by Cave—and no more than 6 minutes behind the leader galloped Wellington, clearly knowing all the while that the defending champion was on the pursuit a few minutes behind her.

As is so often the case, the chess game really began in the Energy Lab, with Chrissie overtaking Steffen at the entrance. By the time the women headed back out onto the Queen K, Wellington had two minutes on Steffen and Carfrae was more than four minutes away from first place. By the last 5K of the run, it was clear that despite a slightly faster pace and a brilliant push past Cave near mile 22, Carfrae just wouldn’t be able to run Wellington down. Still, she did manage to out-split the Brit by 30 seconds, finishing in second with a new run course record of 2:52:09 and an overall time of 8:57:57. Cave capped off what is arguably the best performance of her Ironman career, crossing the line in third place with a 9:03:29.

The emotions on the faces of the top women really said it all: the trademark smiley Wellington’s replaced with exhaustion and the exuberant grin of Rinny’s face last year replaced with tears of frustration. “I really have to give credit to Rinny for pushing me all day out there, and this victory is especially sweet because there were times when I felt like maybe my body was going to give up on me,” said Wellington. But the Brit with the reclaimed crown couldn’t resist a little joke adding: “And one more thing, I just want to say to my coach Dave Scott: I’ve just got two more and I’ll catch you up.”

Watch a video of Wellington’s finish here.

Top 10 Women’s Results

1. Wellington, Chrissie (GBR) 01:01:03/04:56:53/02:52:41/08:55:08
2. Carfrae, Mirinda (AUS) 00:57:17/05:04:16/02:52:09/08:57:57
3. Cave, Leanda (GBR) 00:53:54/04:58:41/03:06:36/09:03:29
4. Joyce, Rachel (GBR) 00:53:56/04:58:56/03:09:54/09:06:57
5. Steffen, Caroline (SUI) 00:57:15/04:50:26/03:15:17/09:07:32
6. Thuerig, Karin (SUI) 01:12:19/04:44:19/03:13:31/09:15:00
7. Tajsich, Sonja (GER) 01:06:57/04:58:55/03:04:46/09:15:17
8. Wurtele, Heather (CAN) 00:58:43/04:59:10/03:15:29/09:17:56
9. Snow, Caitlin (USA) 00:58:47/05:20:57/02:53:50/09:18:11
10. Berasategui, Virginia (ESP) 00:58:44/05:03:30/03:12:50/09:19:52