American, Swiss athletes win the champions of IRONMAN 70.3 Xiamen

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XIAMEN, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- The 2018 IRONMAN 70.3 Xiamen has concluded seeing professionals Kevin Collington of the United States and Imogen Simmonds of Switzerland emerging as champions.

Collington pulled away from Poland's Milosz Sowinski in the early stages of the run and held off Canadian Trevor Wurtele near the end, finishing with a time of 3:48:49. Wurtele held onto second posting 3:49:53 with Sowinski crossing the line at 3:51:11.

Collington told Xinhua it was his first China IRONMAN tournament. "I did not feel well at the final stage. I thought Trevor was going to overstep me. But luckily, I hit the finish line first by keeping timing the breaths."

The runner-up Wurtele said he tried to breakaway out of the peloton in the cycling race but it did not work. In the last 10 kilometers of the ride, he overtook defending champion Sam Betten of Australia.

In the women's race, Simmonds led from start to finish with a time of 4:12:41, claiming her first gold medal after a string of second place finishes in IRONMAN 70.3 races in China. She was followed by Heather Wurtele of Canada and American Sarah Piampiano stopping the clock at 4:17:08 and 4:17:52 respectively.

Simmonds grew up in Hong Kong and she responded to the press in Chinese. "I did not believe I was the champion until I hit the line. I did well in all the three stages."

Heather Wurtele, Trevor Wurtele's wife, told Xinhua she was satisfied with the results. "The running stage is a bit tougher than I thought. Xiamen is the final tournament for me and my husband. We hope to have some rest here to enjoy the sunshine and seashore."

As the last IRONMAN tournament this season, the 25,000 U.S. dollars Xiamen event attracted 533 athletes from 49 countries and regions.

The Xiamen triathlon offered 50 age-group qualifying slots for the 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship and 30 age-group qualifying slots for the 2019 IRONMAN World Championships. Enditem

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