About the author:
Medur is our go-to person for many of the essential tasks involved in putting on our races: race setup, our lap counting system and our website. An enthusiastic runner himself, he has participated in many editions of the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run in Canada and the US.Zyemtsev and Csomor Win Ironman Austria
The Karnten Ironman Austria Triathlon, now in its 7th year, celebrated with a record field of over 1800 athletes on a day that would see Viktor Zyemtsev claim his third Ironman Austria title in a row and Erika Csomor her first.
Once Csomor, a former world duathlon champion, took the lead in the women's event halfway through the bike leg she was never headed, leading home a star-studded field including Ironman veteran Fernanda Keller.
Csomor's impressive 4:57 bike split saw her enter the bike to run transition with a five-minute lead over Germany's Andrea Brede and Keller. Csomor then recorded a 3:08 marathon to clinch her first Ironman victory while Brede was able to maintain her second placing off the bike. However, Brazil's Keller was unable to hold off the fast moving Jess Draskau-Petersson of Great Britain, who ran an impressive three-hour marathon to move through the field into third place, her third top-five Ironman finish. Keller would have to settle for fourth place.
In the men's race France's Francois Chabaud blitzed the field with a 4:18:55 bike split, entering T2 some 15 minutes ahead of the chase group. Mitch Anderson from Australia produced a dominating bike ride that saw him come from 36th position out of the water to pass the main group of riders, which included contenders such as defending champion Zyemtsev, and South Africa's Raynard Tissink. Anderson entered the bike-to-run transition in third position, just behind the swim leader Loisel, with a two-minute buffer to Ironman Brazil champion Olaf Sabatschus who was followed by Tissink and then Zyemtsev.
Zyemtsev exited transition quickly in search of his third title leaving Tissink behind, passing Sabatschus and then Anderson before turning his attention to Chabaud. A wrong turn would lose Chabaud around four minutes, however the bike leader would suffer leg cramps late in the run costing him even more time and the lead, before eventually fading to seventh place.
At the 35-kilometer point of the marathon, Zyemtsev passed Chabaud and cruised to victory with Tissink holding onto second place with Sabatschus in third. Anderson produced his fastest marathon split of 2:56 to finish in fourth place while fellow countryman Jason Shortis was able to run his way into fifth place with a 2:45 marathon after a tough day on the bike.
2004 Karnten Ironman Austria
Men
1 Zyemtsev Viktor UKE 8:12:59
2 Tissink Raynard RSA 8:17:49
3 Sabatschus Olaf GER 8:21:55
4 Anderson Mitchell AUS 8:23:20
5 Shortis Jason AUS 8:26:06
Women
1 Csomor Erika HUN 9:12:03
2 Brede Andrea GER 9:20:46
3 Draskau-Petersson Jess GBR 9:24:18
4 Keller Fernanda BRA 9:25:39
5 Best Nicole GER 9:44:40
