Brent McMahon of Victoria, the triathlete everyone thought would be the Canadian story of the 2017 Ironman Hawaii world championship Saturday, was stung by a box jellyfish in the swim portion and had to pull out of the race.
Lionel Sanders of Harrow, Ont., however, provided more than enough Canadian excitement in McMahon’s absence.
Looking to become the first Canadian to win since Peter Reid of Victoria captured the last of his three titles in 2003, Sanders placed second at Kona.
Patrick Lange of Germany overtook Sanders in the final five kilometres to win in a course-record eight hours, one minute, 39 seconds to break the old record of 8:03:56. Sanders was across in 8:04:07 and third-place finisher David McNamee of Great Britain in 8:07:11.
Daniela Ryf of Switzerland was the women’s winner in 8:50:46, with Lucy Charles of Great Britain second in 8:59:38 and Sarah Crowley of Australia third in 9:01:38.
No Canadian has won the women’s race since Lori Bowden of Victoria captured the second of her two championships in 2003. Bowden also placed second four times, as did Reid three times on the men’s side.
An ironman consists of a 3.8-kilometre open-water swim, and 180.2-km bike race and a 42.2-km run.
“Not where I wanted to be in this race. But I’m in good company with people I love,” a philosophic McMahon wrote on Twitter after his misfortune.
It was the second consecutive year in which McMahon, who was ninth at Kona in 2015, has experienced medical distress.
He was ranked third heading into last year’s Ironman Hawaii and was still in contention in the top-10 despite serving a five-minute penalty in the bike portion. But his body seized up — “My guts turned on me,” he said at the time — during the run portion and he faded to 30th.
Saturday’s sting added to McMahon’s tale of woe in Kona. The two-time Olympian, and two-time Pan Am Games medallist, has achieved great success since turning to Ironman after the shorter Olympic distance.
McMahon set the course record in winning Ironman Lake Placid in New York state in July in 8:14:04. He recorded the third-fastest all-time Ironman, clocking 7:46:10, in 2016 in Brazil and holds the course record for Ironman Arizona. But the greatest prize, in Kona, has so far eluded him.
McMahon and Sanders were the only two Canadians in the men’s elite field. There were no Canadians in the women’s elite field.
The two-time defending Ironman Hawaii champion Jan Frodeno of Germany, who went from edging Simon Whitfield of Victoria for gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics to becoming a star in the longer distances, placed back in the field this time.
