Joe Skipper became only the second ever triathlete to go under seven hours over the Ironman distance in the Sub7 showdown with Kristian Blummenfelt in Germany.
The 34-year-old, from Norwich, finished just behind the Olympic and world champion but fulfilled his pre-race prediction of posting a time of 6:47 for the 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42.2km run.
Skipper was called up to replace Alisdair Brownlee, who pulled out due to a hip problem, in the Sub7 project, which aimed to set a new world standard through the use of pacemakers across all through disciplines.
Former Notre Dame School pupil Skipper, who had to pull out of the Ironman World Championships in St George due to Covid last month, answered the called to take on Blummenfelt and gave the Norwegian star a tough race.
Skipper got out of the water nearly five minutes behind his rival but a blistering bike leg (3:16:42) put him ahead as they started the run leg.
Blummenfelt gradually reeled in Skipper and past him at the 17km point in the run and finished in 6:44:25 with Skipper posting a superb effort of 6:47:36.
“It was awesome,” said Skipper. “I lost a bit of time on the swim – a bit more than I was hoping for, which put us on the back foot.
“But we had a great bike and couldn’t have done any more – I knew I had to start the run with a bit of a buffer on Kristian.
“I actually felt pretty good on the run but when he caught me I couldn’t pick it up. I just held the same pace and hoped that he would slow down a bit.
“I think I slowed a little and he might have a little but he kept a really good pace. I couldn’t catch him but I got sub 7 – I said 6:47 on my predicted time and everyone thought I was full of cr*p – no-one believed me. They were all laughing at me at the press conference but I was pleased with it.”
The women’s Sub8 race also ran concurrently with the men’s event with Kat Matthews smashing through the eight-hour barrier posting a time of 7:31:54 ahead of Nicola Spirig (7:34:19).
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