British triathlete SMASHES bike record and secures Nice qualification after overcoming injury setbacks

With multiple IRONMAN titles to her name, Ruth Astle is part of an incredible current crop of British women racing long distance triathlon, but has seen a calf problem keep her sidelined for much of the past 12 months.

On Sunday, the 35-year-old put that injury hit period behind her, as she finished on her first podium since winning IRONMAN Israel in November 2022 with a fantastic third place at IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Setting a new bike course record on her way to securing qualification for the IRONMAN World Champs in Nice, the PTO World #52 had a day to remember, and shared how much the result meant to her on YouTube after the race.

Putting her doubts to bed

Revealing that she hadn’t run further than 15km in the build up to the race, Astle miraculously ran a 3:08:24 marathon after coming off the bike in the lead, which consolidated her spot on the podium.

[Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images for Ironman]

“Overall, I’m super proud and super happy. I actually felt quite fit off the training I’d done, but there’s still always that doubt after an injury.” 

Having overcome her calf injury, and now with a marathon under her belt, it will be interesting to see the improvements Astle can make on the run as she builds back her fitness and training throughout the rest of the season.

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Podium a brilliant bonus

Coming into the race, Astle pointed out that her sights had simply been set on getting through the race injury-free, with Nice qualification a secondary objective and finishing on the podium a major bonus.

“Goal number one was to start a race and finish it. This is basically only my second race over the last year, […], and my main goal was to finish without injuries, get my Nice slot and anything else was a bonus, so to finish on the podium I’m really happy.” 

With a bike split of 4:29:54, Astle broke the previous course record by more than ten minutes, and after racing so well in Spain, is considering a transatlantic double header, sharing “I still have a provisional flight to race Lake Placid, but I’m not sure if the feet will be able to handle it!” 

If she does make the trip out to race IRONMAN Lake Placid, she’ll hope to follow in the footsteps of Els Visser, who in Vitoria-Gasteiz, finished in second, just a week after a third place finish at Challenge Roth.