In fantastic summer weather, Barbara Kiener already started at 6.50 a.m. at the Ironman Austria Carinthia, which took place in and around Lake Wörthersee. The athletes had to complete 3.8 kilometers in the water, 180 kilometers on the bike and 42.2 kilometers on the run.
With a water temperature of 25.3 degrees Celsius, wetsuits were forbidden for the starters. Kiener showed a solid swimming part and entered the transition area in 20th place. On the bike, the athlete steadily worked her way up to the top of the field and made up place after place – in second place, Kiener went to her favorite discipline, running.
The triathlete from the URC Langenlois completed the marathon distance of 42.2 kilometers in a time of 3:21.55 hours despite the enormous heat. In the end, Kiener finished in sixth place out of 345 starters, she won her age group W40 in a superior manner.
The competition served as the perfect dress rehearsal for the upcoming Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. “I didn’t have a good feeling at first when I was swimming or cycling. Then the running was really good. It was a really good preparatory race for Hawaii, also because of the heat,” said Kiener.
Oldboy Alexander Fruehwirth finished the 70th long distance of his career in Klagenfurt. Things didn’t go well for Dagmar Pathenhauer and Martin Riedel. Pathenhauer had to end the race after 90 kilometers on the bike with a headache and nausea, and Riedel collapsed on the run.
Two athletes from Tri-Team Krems were represented: Elke Schiebl-van Veen (13th place in the W55 age group) and Christian Schiebl (23rd place in the M55 age group).