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Alexander and Rollison storm to 70.3 World Championship triathlon titleMonday, 12 September 2011 08:45 Alexander rides the wheel of fortune in Vegasby ironman.com Australian Craig Alexander won his second 70.3 World Championship title in Las Vegas on Sunday, 11 September. Add this on to his two Ironman World Championships and that makes for quite an impressive resume. Melissa Rollison, who stormed onto the 70.3 scene this year, delivered in Las Vegas what quite a few had predicted, but the for the speedy Aussie this was her first World title. Alexander, who won the his first world championship in 2006 when he won the inaugural Ironman World Championship 70.3, dominated the run portion of yesterday's race, but it was an impressive bike ride that set him up for his win. After super-swimmer Potts (the 2008 70.3 world champ) led out of the water, it was Alexander who pushed the pace on the bike to bring the lead group together. See race images When the two-time Ironman world champion got a flat tyre out on the bike course, the Shimano support crew quickly came out with a replacement front wheel. Turns out the wheel they gave to Alexander had been on Potts’ bike this morning, but they switched it out when they found a problem with the valve. After fixing the valve, the crew put the bike in the support van. After scrambling to get another wheel on Alexander’s bike, the crew had a laugh when they realised which one ended up on the eventual champion’s bike. Once Alexander got back on his bike he immediately got back into the group of men’s leaders that included a virtual who’s who of 70.3 racing. Chris Lieto, Raynard Tissink, Paul Ambrose, Paul Matthews, Joe Gambles, Alexander, Luke Bell, Tim Berkel, Michael Weiss, Fraser Cartmell and Jeff Symonds were all at or near the front, leaving the likes of Potts to chase behind in the second group. Over the second half of the bike Lieto made what has become a signature move for him now – a strong push to get clear of the rest of the field. He would pull clear of the field, with only Raynard Tissink able to stay between him and the rest of the leaders. Tissink, though, would be sidelined just short of T2 thanks to a drafting penalty, which put him four minutes in arrears of the main group as he started the run. Off the bike it looked like Lieto might have just enough of a lead to take the win today – which would have been the case if anyone other than Craig Alexander had been in the field. Alexander screamed through the run course, putting together a 71:50 run split on this tough, hilly course and easily taking his second world title and sending notice to all of his competitors that he’s going to be a fearsome competitor in Kona in a month. Lieto would hang on for second, ahead of Canadian Jeff Symonds who had the race of his life to finish third. 1 3:54:48 85 Craig Alexander Boulder CO USA Here’s what’s frightening – today’s world champion didn’t do her first Ironman 70.3-distance race until one year ago. To say that she’s exploded onto the world scene is, well, let’s just say a major-league understatement. This year alone Rollison has won three Ironman 70.3 events, which helped her qualify yesterday’s race. In Vegas the feeling was that Rollison would likely run six or so minutes faster than anyone else. So, when she came off the bike 3:30 behind Julie Dibens, the race was pretty much decided. Before that, though, some interesting racing was enjoyed. Dibens led through the initial parts of the swim, but it was Leanda Cave who led out of the water, enjoying a five-second cushion over the 2009 Ironman 70.3 world champ. Dibens quickly went to the front, though, and dominated the entire bike ride. Behind her, though, Rollison was having a stellar ride and would eventually move to second. Coming up through the field was the incredible Swiss Ironman champion, Karin Thuerig, a former time trial world champion and Olympic TT medallist, who managed to overcome a seven-minute deficit after the swim to come off the bike in third. Dibens would eventually drop out of the race, which left Thuerig in second, a position she would hold on to until the finish line. Rollison’s 1:21:14 run split was more than enough to get her to the line well ahead of her competition (despite the frightening blisters she sustained thanks to the sans-socks approach) and net her a world championship title. Thuerig got another world championship medal with her second-place finish, followed by Linsey Corbin, who provided the US with a spot on the podium. Women’s final results:
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