KLAGENFURT, Austria (AP) — European middle distance triathlon champion Andreas Raelert defeated Maik Twelsiek in the marathon portion for an overall German 1-2 finish at the Ironman Austria event on Sunday.
Raelert was fifth after the swimming and fourth after the cycling, before overtaking then leaders Twelsiek and Philip Graves of Britain after about 5 12 miles of running.
Raelert surged ahead of the field to complete the marathon in just over 2 hours, 40 minutes. He finished in an unofficial 7:59:51. Twelsiek clocked 8:11:36, while David Plese of Slovenia came third in 8:19.13.
Bart Colpaert of Belgium, who was the fastest swimmer and led a major part of the cycling stage, finished sixth in 8:26:17.
