Bahrain clinch top five finish in Ironman 70.3

Manama : The Bahrain Endurance 13 team clinched top five places in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships yesterday at Mooloolaba in Queensland, Australia as Daniela Ryf salvaged finished within 33 seconds of the podium in fourth place.

“It was a tough day for me today, I felt good at the start and I was really confident to have a great race out there, but respect to these girls who put on strong performances,” said Ryf.

The two-time 70.3 world champion exited from the water in the main chase group, but was unable to make headway on the bike leg. “I tried to push, but my legs still hurt a lot today, so I said maybe I’ll wait and maybe they’ll get better in 10 or 20km and I tried again and… It was just a day where it was painful and didn’t go any faster as the others were faster so that’s all I could do today,” added Ryf.

Ryf began to feel better once out on the run and her resurgence enabled her to overtake fellow Swiss Caroline Steffen for fourth place. Steffen loved racing in her adopted home turf on the Sunshine Coast. In the same chase group as Ryf, Steffen ran shoulder-to-shoulder with Melissa Hauschildt and Heather Wurtele hunting down eventual champion Holly Lawrence.