The athletes were given 16 hours to cope with the trial. Ivan Kharin became the absolute winner of the IRONSTAR 226 SOCHI 2017 race having completed it in 9 hours and 25 minutes. Nadezhda Anfimova with the result of 11 hours and 30 minutes was the best among women.
Ivan Kharin: Winning the race was not my goal – I got registered for this event without my knowledge, so I prepared for it at a very short notice and had 10 training sessions to improve swimming and running skills. I liked the track a lot – it is unusual that the marathon includes 8 laps, but you are constantly seen and supported by the fans. I would like to specifically mention the beautiful swimming course that has its own peculiar features and the bike course, sure, as it is only here in Sochi that traffic is suspended this way. The F1 track makes up 2 whole circles. I got very positive emotions from the bike course, this has been truly awesome.
The same day the Olympic triathlon competition was held (1.5 km of swimming, 40 km of cycling and 10 km of running). Famous showman and TV host Mikhail Shatz was among the athletes. He ran 10 km in the relay with professional sportsmen Pavel Rastrygin and Anton Kuznetsov. Their team by name ‘Relay of Kindness’ finished second among the male teams.
Mikhail Shatz: I have already taken part in 3 competitions like this one, and each of them has been a step forward. I swam at the first event, then I ran 5 kilometers and here I have run 10. Next year I am planning to cover the whole sprint distance. Triathlon is a wonderful thing that puts your life in order and the atmosphere at the race is just unique.
Alexander Grigoryev won the Olympic distance with the score of 2 hours and 12 minutes; Maria Trubitsyna was the best among women.
Altogether on September 23 both tracks welcomed nearly 1,200 athletes representing 15 countries, including Germany, France, Belgium, the USA, Cyprus, Australia, and Singapore. Para-athletes (those with impaired limbs, sight, and hearing) also took part in the event.
/p>The swimming stage was held at the Imeretinskaya Bay; the strikingly beautiful bike course took the sportsmen through the F1 track at the SOCHI AUTODROM and then to the mountains to Krasnaya Polyana and back. The run course was arranged on the mall protecting the port from waves. The race finished in the evening with colorful lights and festive fireworks.For the first time in Russia the live broadcast was arranged from the ‘iron’ track race. The event was viewed by over 1000 people during the day.
The IRONSTAR SOCHI event was the closing of the triathlon season in Russia and became the most large-scale event in 2017 under the hash-tag #russiankona by analogy with the main world competition in ‘iron’ triathlon held in Hawaii.
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Photos are available at www.marathon-photo.ru
Results are available at https://russiarunning.com/Results
