Toldi, Hollioake Clinch Men's And Women's 2024 Ironman Malaysia Titles

LANGKAWI, Oct 12 (Bernama) -- Ironman Malaysia 2024 was a lucky stage for Brazil's Fernando Toldi and Regan Hollioake from Australia when they crowned themselves as champions in their respective categories in their first participation in the tournament, here in Langkawi.

Toldi, 37, won the men's category with a time of eight hours 10 minutes 23 seconds while Tim Van Berkel of Australia was second with a time of eight hours 12 minutes 38 seconds and third place with a time of eight hours 18 minutes 07 seconds was won by Germany's Andreas Dreitz.

In the women's category, Hollioake, 35, won the title with a time of nine hours 13 minutes 07 seconds while Australia's Katie Remond was second with a time of nine hours 30 minutes 00 seconds and third place with a time of nine hours 42 minutes 05 seconds was won by Italy's Federica De Nicola.

Toldi said he was very happy to have won his first Ironman Malaysia championship and it was more than satisfying because all the hard work, sweat and struggles ended in a successful outing.

"I trained so hard for this race, I put all my energy for this day and I dreamt so much for this day. This was a tough day, it was very mentally streanous where I had to push myself like I never did before and I'm so happy, I'm dreaming now.

"Certainly one of the toughest races I ever raced in my life but it was an amazing race. This weather, this condition is very tough..it's really, really tough and I never competed in a place so hot like this. I had to utilise all the aid stations, take some ice and put on my head and drink water and salt and concentrate on hydration and try to make the body feel more fresh," he told reporters after the race here today.

Asked about the most difficult disciplne in the race for him, Toldi said the swimming segment was the toughest because it would be difficult to focus when trying to stay in front of the pack.

"But I had a really fast transition so I could start the bike with the top guys. So we were in four and we pretty much worked together to try to open up a gap on the second group. I felt good on the bike and during the run.

"It was a very, very tough battle with Berkel, we ran together during the marathon and I had to concentrate myself and the pace and it was really tough. It was a mental game and lucky I had more energy on the last lap and then I just ran with my heart and that's it," he said.

He added that the title today was very significant and meaningful because it was the first title since becoming a professional this year and pledged that it won’t be the last but rather more will come.

"That was probably the toughest race I've ever done. I'm relieved for it to be over, but I'm absolutely thrilled to take the victory. This is my first time here so I wasn't quite sure how I would go with the heat, but it was as brutal as I expected, luckily the race went really well.

"I swam really well and came out in front and I think the run is the toughest one.The last 10 to 12 kilometer (km) of that run is just really, really brutal so just had to hang on and it was really tough," he said.

The Ironman Malaysia involves three disciplines, namely swimming a distance of 3.8km, cycle 180km and run a full marathon distance of 42.2km while Ironman 70.3 comprise three shorter discplines of a 1.9km swim, cycle 90km and run 21.1km.

-- BERNAMA