As a two-time Olympian (not to mention being an Ironman European Champion and fourth-place finisher in Kona), American Sarah True (pictured above at Ironman Mont-Tremblant 2019) is no slouch when it comes to the swim in a triathlon, but she had no trouble competing in Ironman Canada today after the swim was cancelled, recovering from a 2:26 deficit after the bike ride to easily take her fourth Ironman title.
Breaking news: Ironman Canada swim cancelled due to water being too cold
The athletes were sent out in a time trial format, and while True, fellow American Jodie Robertson and Canadian Deborah Eckhouse swapped the lead for the first 24km of the bike race, after a third of the 180km course it was Robertson who began to pull away from the rest of the field. By the time they reached T2, Robertson was 2:26 ahead of True, Eckhouse 4:48, Canadian Danielle Fauteux 5:33 and the ageless Melanie McQuaid (the 51-year-old was the oldest woman to qualify for Kona as a professional last year) 10:15, while newly crowned Ultraman world record holder Jen Annett clocked 10:26.
Jen Annett beats the world record and wins the Ultraman Canada overall
After 5K of the marathon, True was in the lead, 1:14 ahead of Robertson, and the lead was only going to grow. True was the only woman to run a sub-three-hour marathon (2:57:53), which put her in 7:52:29. Robertson (7:59:38) was second, Eckhouse (8:04:19) rounded out the podium, Fauteaux (8:09:27) was fourth, while Annett finished an impressive fifth just weeks after her big win at Ultraman Canada. (McQuaid finished 11th.)
