Ben Hamilton won’t have long to enjoy his ascent into the top 10 of the Ironman Pro Series standings following his eye-catching 12th at Ironman Texas.
The result in the duel North American Championship was the 26-year-old Aucklander’s third best over the full 226km distance following his bronze medal on debut at Ironman New Zealand in March 2023 and return to Taupo for 7th last month.
Even more impressive was Hamilton’s time of 7:49:18 in The Woodlands – slashing 10 minutes off his previous full PB of 7:59:32 in Taupo on March 1.
It helped propel the Kiwi long distance No.4 up to 8th in the Pro Series standings which are now topped by Rudy Von Berg. The American was 3rd in Texas behind Norwegian superstar Kristian Blummenfelt and Spaniard Antonio Benito.
Fellow Kiwis Teresa Adams (9:03:41) and Matt Kerr (7:55:18) were 9th and 16th to move up to 31st and 29th in the women’s and men’s standings respectively. Brit Kat Matthews, the reigning Ironman Pro Series champion, won the women’s race in 8:10:34 after mowing down Taylor Knibb (USA) with a 2:49:19 marathon to make it a Texas three-peat.
Blummenfelt produced a 3:57:14 split for the 180km bike in Texas before an even crazier 2:34:03 marathon to win in 7:24:20 and roar up to second in the season standings courtesy of the maximum 5000 points on offer in Texas.
Hamilton finished 25 minutes in arrears of the former Ironman world and Olympic champion to collect 3502 points in a system where an athlete loses a point for every second that elapses after the race winner breaks the tape.
“I’m happy with my day,” Hamilton told SBR from Texas as his focus quickly transitions to 70.3 St George on May 10.
“I’ve continued to build my training since Ironman NZ. My coach [Kasper Pedersen] is still being conservative with our approach as we look to build for the future, but I’m happy with the performances I’ve had at this stage.”
Hamilton linked with Pedersen at the beginning of the year and is encouraged by the early gains made with the Danish coach despite a 51:48 swim in Texas that left him with much work to do out of the water. His splits for the bike and run – 4:03:18 and 2:48:52 – saw him climb up the results sheet to finish a place ahead of former world champ Gustav Iden.
“I rode well after another average swim, and clawed back some places on the run as others started to suffer in the hot conditions. The bike course was particularly fast with a lot of athletes going under four hours,” he said.
“My biggest challenge today was balancing the battle with the heat, and taking on the nutrition I needed to stayed hydrated and fuelled until the end.
“There were some tough moments towards the end of the run where you take a gel and hope it hits your bloodstream quickly!”
Hamilton was second at St George 12 months ago behind American star Sam Long, a result that proved the road cyclist turned triathlete was the real deal after his 3rd at Ironman NZ. But the increased focus on early Pro Series points means the return to Utah will be much tougher this time.
“It’ll be a stacked race. Magnus [Ditlev], Lionel [Sanders], Sam Long and more I’m sure,” said Hamilton who will return to Auckland afterwards to build up for June’s Ironman Cairns.
“I’m happy to have executed my first couple of races well enough to be sitting in the Top 10 of the Pro series, and we will see if I can keep things that way as the season progresses.”
