. With it’s two-looped swim out of the way, competitors head out on the single loop bike and double looped run courses that are both pancake flat and fast It will be no vacation here for those in the professional race. Five-time Ford Ironman Florida champion, Bella Bayliss (left), is returning to defend her title and will, without a doubt, be favored to win. With eleven Ironman championships on her resume, who can argue? Bayliss has five wins in Florida in eight attempts. She knows this course and what it takes to win here.
Nina Kraft and Heather Gollnick both possess multiple Ironman titles and will present Bayliss with a challenge on Saturday.
Kraft won Ford Ironman Florida in 2007. The 40-year-old also has two wins in stand-alone marathons this year. She ran in the 2:45 range for both of them and arrives in Panama City Beach fit. If she’s on her game, Kraft could make Bayliss’s attempt to win her sixth Ironman Florida title a bit of a challenge.
Gollnick has five Ironman titles and is coming into this race on short notice after her 10:04 Ford Ironman World Championship finish. The Florida native has never attempted two Ironman races so close together, but the lure of competition, and the Ford Ironman Florida event being so close to her home near Tampa Bay, was something Gollnick could no longer resist.
Other women to present a challenge to Bayliss this weekend are Tamara Kozulina and Jessica Jacobs. Kozulina was second here last year and came within a 1:30 of Bayliss before fading in the late stages of the marathon. Jacobs had a killer bike split at Ford Ironman Florida last year (4:50:52), which is one the fastest women’s bike splits ever recorded in an Ironman. If she can back up her stellar bike split with faster swim and run times … look out.
The women in this race should also pay attention to Denmark’s Charlotte Kolters. Kolters was second this year at Ironman Brazil, putting solid performances in all three disciplines. She is in Florida after a disappointing DNF at the Ford Ironman World Championship in October, where blisters on the run forced her to withdraw from the race. Unnoticed by many, the relatively new (and unknown) Ironman athlete came off the bike in sixth position overall in Kona. In the men’s race, South Africa’s Raynard Tissink (left) is the class of the field. The six-time Ironman champion is coming off his win at the 2009 Ford Ironman Wisconsin and should be the lone male with a target on his back.
Always a podium contender, Czech Republic’s Petr Vabrousek has a number of top five finishes this year sprinkled amongst the twenty-three races he has already completed. Ever the opportunist, Vabrousek always appears to work his way up the field through the run as others struggle in the later stages of the marathon. Expect him to play out this race plan on Saturday.
With the absence of seasoned veterans other than Tissink and Vabrousek, the men’s race should be exciting to watch. The race could be wide open for any number of aspiring professionals. There is a good possibility we could see someone secure their first Ironman win here in Panama City Beach.
Second-year American professional, Mac Brown is coming off an eighth place finish at Ford Ironman Wisconsin this year while recovering from some serous injuries that have plagued him since he turned pro. That being said, the Californian had some outstanding results as an age group athlete in which the highlight was his fourth overall age group finish at the 2007 Ford Ironman World Championships. If Brown has fully overcome his injuries he could very well be in the podium contention Saturday.
Americans Justin Daerr and Zack Ruble have shown promise in Ironman races in 2008 and, if they have break-through performances, can also be podium contenders.
Come join us on Saturday here at Ironman.com for live video race updates, text and photo race day coverage and athlete tracking.
Shawn Skene: Shaw can be reached at SSkene@Ironman.com
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