Vanhoenacker wins Ironman Austria for 4th straight year; Bayliss takes women’s title

Vanhoenacker, Bayliss win Ironman Austria

KLAGENFURT, Austria — Marino Vanhoenacker of Belgium has set a course record in winning his fourth straight Ironman Austria triathlon, while Bella Bayliss of Britain has won the women’s event.

Vanhoenacker finished in 8 hours, 1 minute, 38 seconds on Sunday, beating last year’s winning time by 4:29. It was his sixth Ironman title, after also winning in Florida in 2005 and in South Africa earlier this year.

James Cunnama of South Africa finished second 12:40 back. Bayliss’ husband, Stephen, last year’s runner-up, was third in 8:17:06.

In the women’s race, Bayliss overtook leader Lucie Zelenkova of the Czech Republic after 87 miles of biking and kept the lead for the rest of the way finishing in 8:50:13.