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Mike Phillips held off Braden Currie to win his second Ironman New Zealand men’s title on Saturday, while Els Visser claimed her first win in the women’s event.
Phillips completed the 226.3km course in just under eight hours, three minutes ahead of Currie, while Visser took just over nine hours.
2019 winner Phillips said it was good to get one over on Currie.
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Mike Phillips celebrates winning the 2023 Ironman New Zealand title.
“We’ve always had a bit of banter throughout the years. I won in 2019 and then he’s had the better of me the last couple of times so it’s nice to get one back.
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“I think it just raises the level of the racing here in New Zealand when you have a few guys going hammer and tongs with each other – it was an awesome day.
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Els Visser celebrates winning the 2023 Ironman New Zealand women’s race.
“I was fighting off cramps in my quads and my calves and my stomach so I was just trying to put one foot in front of the other and it wasn’t until one-and-a-half k to go that I could enjoy it.
“I won in 2019 so to come back and do it again.. it’s easy to do it once but to do it twice is hard, so it’s cool.”
Ironman triathlon’s consist of a 3.9km swim, a 180.2km bike ride and a 42.2km run – the equivalent of a marathon – for a total of 226.3km.
Currie took the lead from Phillips halfway through the run, but suffered cramping himself in the final stages, allowing Phillips to retake the lead and claim the victory.
Twelve-time champion Cameron Brown said farewell to the men’s event as a professional with an impressive seventh place.
Dutch athlete Visser won the women’s event at her first time of trying, beating defending champion Hannah Berry after taking the lead late during the cycling leg.
“I really had to make some time up after the swim and before I had a chat with my coach,” Visser said afterwards.
“He said okay – start steady on the bike and really try to ride super fast on the last 40 kilometres, and he said when the others are ahead of you on the road really ride hard and try to catch up to them and go fast.
“I was super happy that I was able to catch up with them on the last 10 kilometres and even to have a little lead, and it was great to come into T2 as first.”
“I was actually pretty confident with my running, I was happy with my fitness but it was so tough today.
“I didn’t expect that, I had to go so deep and I’m so happy that I finished, that last lap was terrible but I was quite happy with lead I had.
“I had five or four minutes from lap number two so I thought okay, just hang in there and keep running and just make it to the finish line, kilometre for kilometre and every step for step, and yes I’m just so happy that I’ve finished and of course super stoked for the win.”
Visser’s win was her first in an Ironman since she won on home soil in 2018 and followed a second-place finish at Ironman Western Australia in December.
2023 Ironman New Zealand – results
Professional Men
1. Mike Phillips – 7:56.05
2. Braden Currie – 7:59:17
3. Jan Van Berkel – 8:10:22
Professional Women
1. Els Visser – 9:05:44
2. Hannah Berry – 9:08:33
3. Rebecca Clarke – 9:10:11
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