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Lucky 7 for Daniela Ryf at IRONMAN 70.3 Switzerland

Daniela Ryf of Switzerland and took the elite title at the 14th edition of the IRONMAN 70.3 Switzerland, hosted in the Swiss town of Rapperswil-Jona, located on the upper end of Lake Zurich. 

Swiss town of Rapperswil-Jona

In a strong field of professional women, it was five-time IRONMAN world champion Daniela Ryf who claimed her seventh victory in a row on the upper Lake of Zurich, whilst in the men’s field American Rudy Von Berg made light some stiff competition to come through victorious. 

Athletes spurred on by the sound of Swiss Cow Bells

Course: 

Swim: The One-loop 1.9 km (1.2 mile) swim course is located at the Obersee in the pristine waters of the amazing Zurich Lake surrounded by mountains and scenic views.. 

Bike: The two-loop 90 km (56 mile) bike course leads you into the alpine hills right next to the Obersee and returning to the lake passing Eschenbach and Schmerikon. 

Run: The 21.1 km run course goes through the medieval town of roses, past the iconic castle with its 53 steps known as the ‘stairway to heaven’  then along the lake to the finishing line. 

Lake side run

Pro Women 

2021 has proven to be extremely successful for Daniela Ryf with IRONMAN 70.3 Switzerland making it 4 starts and 4 wins having previously won at IRONMAN 70.3 Dubai, IRONMAN 70.3 St. George and at the IRONMAN North America Championships in Tulsa. 

Ryf passing the medieval castles ‘stairway to heaven’

Daniela Ryf the five-time Ironman and Ironman 70.3 World Champion known to friends and fans as the ‘Angry Bird’ combined women’s best swim (24:54), bike (2:16:34) and run (1:23:42) splits to finish in 4:09:35 with a 07:02 margin of victory over fellow Swiss Julie Derron with third spot going to Germanys Anne Reischmann recent winner of the French IRONMAN 70.3 Les Sables d’Olonne. 

Pro Men 

On paper the American Von Berg who recently achieved two 2nd places at the IRONMAN 70.3 Les Sables d’Olonne and the IRONMAN 70.3 European Championship Elsinore. had more of a fight on his hands as the starting position for the men could hardly be more balanced. Much local interest from a Swiss point of view was on local hero Ruedi Wild, IRONMAN Switzerland record winner Ronnie Schildknecht and the Salvisberg brothers Florin and Andrea, the latter just having returned from Tokyo from racing for the Swiss mixed relay team at the Olympic Games. 

Rudy Von Berg

It was the Swiss Olympian Andrea Salvisberg who exited the water first (21:41) which gave him a 50 second lead over the American Rudy Von Berg who exited 2rd with Austria’s Martin Bader coming out the water in third spot.   Out of transition and it was Von Berg who really set the pace with 40 km/hour on the bike whilst Andrea Salvisberg was holding his own a further (1:28) behind while the group of challengers were a further 5 minutes behind as they entered T2. Onto the run and Andrea Salvisberg did not have the legs to maintain his challenge and fell back as the faster half marathon runners started to change positions.  

Rudy von Berg wrapped up the victory with a 1:13:06 half marathon that brought him to the line in 3:42:18 with a 6:11 margin of victory over the Swiss local hero Ruedi Wild and 6:58 over 3rd place finisher Felix Hentschel of Germany. 

Full Results Here 

This race offered qualifying slots for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship 2022 in Taupo, New Zealand.