Vanhoenacker and Dollinger dominate in Klagenfurt

Henry Budgett recaps the day of racing at Karnten Ironman Austria

Belgium's Marino Vanhoenacker wrote himself into the history books here today with the fourth fastest Ironman time in history and, in the process, joined the exclusive 'five times' club by winning his fifth straight Karnten Ironman Austria. By the end of the first 90k bike lap he was already well ahead of his 2009 splits and, despite there being no significant challenger, he drove himself on, increasing the gap over his rivals. A nine-minute lead over Austria's Michael Weiss at the 180k mark was more than doubled by the time he crossed the finish line in a record-setting 7:52:05.

Behind him Weiss faltered slightly and was overhauled by Dennis Devriendt, another example of the growing school of Belgians who seem to excel at long distance racing and a name to watch for in the future. Weiss ensured that an Austrian made the men’s podium with a solid run for third place.

In the women's race it was the bike section that changed everything as early leader Eva Dollinger saw her two main rivals hit problems. First Rebecca Preston withdrew suffering leg cramps early in the first lap while defending champion Bella Bayliss took a penalty stop at the end of the first lap and had to fight her way back into contention. Bayliss chased hard and got to within two minutes of Dollinger by the end of the bike, but her spirit seemed to have been broken and she drifted off the pace and eventually pulled out at the half-way mark.

Barbara Tesar went through a rocky patch, but recovered and then faded again, leaving Denmark's Karina Ottosen, who made a late surge, to move into second place. Dollinger's win in front of a home crowd, the first native Austrian woman to win here as Kate Allen is only Austrian by marriage, received as huge a welcome from the crowd as Vanhoenacker's, even though it was well off the sub-nine-hour pace of the past couple of years. German age grouper Beate Görtz rounded out the podium.

Check out our complete day of live coverage by clicking on the coverage tab of the Ironman Austria page here on Ironman.com, or by going to www.ironmanlive.com