Sarah Crowley Seventh At The 2022 Ironman World Championship

Sarah Crowley impressed in finishing seventh despite incurring a five-minute penalty, completing the 3.8km swim, 180km bike, and 42.2km run in 9:01:58.

“It was the most happy, disappointed race of my life, I think. I got a penalty on the bike, so I had to run super hard today to get back and earn a spot, so it’s good but bad at the same time,” said Crowley.

The race was won by American Chelsea Sodaro, the first time an IRONMAN World Championship debutant has claimed the crown since 2007 and the first athlete representing the USA since 1996. Great Britain’s Lucy Charles-Barclay second and Germany’s Anne Haug taking third.

It was a historic day at the IRONMAN World Championship, with a woman the first professional across the finish line for the first time ever after the women’s and men’s racing was split over two days, the women racing today and the men to come two days later.

“It was brilliant, it’s so good to see it back as it is, and then to remember how hard this race is, we got a pretty hot one today. Out of all the races I’ve done this is probably the hottest. Quite challenging but it’s so good to see everyone out there, the boys cheering, and they’ll get their turn in a couple of days,” said Crowley.

Crowley was 10^th out of the water, nearly four minutes down on leader Charles-Barclay, but was quickly through the first transition and onto the bike in eighth position.

The Brisbane-based athlete was riding strongly in a group of four women, but after about 40 kilometres she was handed a five-minute penalty for drafting.

“A whole heap of rude words but Laura (Phillip) came in at the same time and she was really upset, I was really upset. Matt Lieto was there and was like, ‘people have come back from five minutes before to win the race’,” she said.

Temporarily halted, Crowley slipped to 18^th but worked hard to claw her way back to 13^th by the time she headed into transition two and out onto the run course.

“I think I started back pretty slow, Laura could just go but I needed a bit of time to work back into it but as I sort of got into the race again I finished quite strong on the bike and felt pretty good on the run immediately so you just never know, focus on your own race and things come to you,” said Crowley.

Crowley rounded out a gutsy performance with a strong 3:06:56 marathon to rein in several athletes ahead of her and claim her fourth IRONMAN World Championship top 10 finish. The 39-year-old has previously achieved two third place results as well as a sixth.

“My highlight is I think just fighting, being able to fight. I just haven’t had it in me as much for the last few years and I wasn’t super sure how I’d tolerate overcoming something that bad, so yeah for me, being able to fight and use all my skills that I have from many years of racing to claw my way back.

“I guess it means really that I’m back, I’m real sick of getting crappy points and people just thinking that I’m done but I’m not, and I think today just showed that there’s still a bit of fight left in me. I’m excited to race again,” she said.

Fellow Australians Penny Slater, Kylie Simpson, and Renee Kiley all finished the IRONMAN World Championship course despite suffering in the challenging environment of Kona, with heat, humidity, and changing winds to contend with all day.

Unfortunately for Dimity-Lee Duke and Kate Bevilaqua, the tough conditions proved too much as both athletes retired from the race not long after starting the run.

Simpson, making her IRONMAN World Championship debut, finished 22^nd in a time of 9:35:13.

“Amazing, really good, the crowd were great, I didn’t know any of them out there and they were all yelling ‘go Kylie’ so yeah, it was fantastic. Running along Ali`i Drive with everyone screaming was great,” said Simpson.

She found the swim in particular challenging, exiting the water last of all the female professionals. She battled hard on the bike, making up a few places, but as is often the case, the 39-year-old came into her own on the run and clawed her way up the field to finish just outside the top 20.

“The race was long and hot, but good, I enjoyed it. Swim was less than ideal for me coming out last, and then lonely on the bike, a little bit windy, but then managed to catch up to some girls there and then out on the run.

“We came here about 10 days ago and were commenting that it hasn’t been hot up until today, I did want it to be warm. It’s definitely lived up to all the expectations and I’m very happy to have been able to compete here today. We got to the start line healthy, no injuries and yeah, first one on Kona as a pro done,” she said.

Canberra’s Slater, also on debut, was the youngest athlete in the women’s professional field and raced admirably to finish in 24^th place in a time of 9:38:51.

“It’s so special, this race has so much history and just being on the island is amazing, the locals are so welcoming. I just wanted to get one under my belt and being one of the youngest here I just need to get experience racing the best in the world,” said Slater.

“The bike was super fast, it was nice to ride with heaps of other girls in the field and the run, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for that. I think it’s just one of those things you just have to do and get experience at,” she said. “I think I was acclimated as best I could. Coming from Canberra that’s obviously not ideal, but I was doing 90 minutes max sessions in the chambers, but you can’t really replicate nine hours, so I suppose I know for next time and hopefully I’ll be back on the big island for many years to come.”

Kiley, who only turned profession four years ago, turning her life around from a 104kg, pack-a-day smoker to mixing it with the world’s best triathletes, finished her second IRONMAN World Championship of the year in 26^th place.