Multisport: Ironman pair battle to make world top 10

New Zealand's Cameron Brown and Joanna Lawn claimed top-10 finishes but not the prized podium positions at the ironman triathlon world championships in Hawaii yesterday.

Brown was eighth in the men's race won by Germany's Normann Stadler, who led from the front for most of the day to claim his second world title after his victory in 2004.

Lawn was seventh in the women's race, fighting through the field on the run after dropping out of the top 10 during the bike.

A distraught Brown required medical assistance after finishing in a time of 8h 25m 22s, 13m behind Stadler.

He said he never felt on top of his game but a mixup when he received the wrong special needs bag at the turn point on the bike was a key problem.

"It meant I didn't have my own special nutrition in the second half of the bike. I threw the bag on the road for them to give to the right person and thought they may have come after me on a motorbike.

"It meant that I went all the way until the next aid station with no nutrition and then had to use the event stuff which I had never trained on.

"I don't want to use excuses. I would not have won today. But I just never bonk like that. I felt terrible for the last part of the bike and I was running on empty for the last half of the run."

Stadler took the lead early on the bike and opened a 10-minute advantage after a record bike split of 4h 13m for the 180km cycle, aided by light and favourable winds. He held off Australian Chris McCormack, who staged a fierce challenge with a marathon run of 2h 46m.

Defending champion Faris Al-Sultan, of Germany, was third ahead of Belgian Rutker Beke, who repeated his fourth placing from last year.

Australian Michellie Jones, 37, a two-time Olympic distance world champion, won her first ironman world championship title.

She dominated, like Stadler, going to the front on the bike, withstanding a late challenge at the end of the cycle and then easing clear to win by 6m.

Lawn, who fell back to 11th at one stage on the bike, fought well on the run to move up to seventh.

She finished in 9h 32m 48s after a solid but not spectacular 5h 10m bike and 3h 18m marathon.

New Zealand will celebrate a world champion. Wellington triathlete Vicki Jones, 35, won the 30-34 years title in Kona last year and took out the 35-39 years crown yesterday.

Jones was fourth fastest in her age group after the swim but produced a 5h 5m 46s time for the 180km bike, nearly 10m faster than her nearest challenger. She gave some time back on the run but won in 10h 58s, 6m ahead of the second placegetter.

Hamilton's Scott Thorne was the other New Zealand medallist, finishing third in the men' 20-24 years age group in his first attempt.

- NZPA