Chrissie Wellington, the current world record-holder and Ford Ironman World Champion, was announced this afternoon as the Sportswoman of the Year for 2009 at the 22nd Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Awards ceremony held in association with Brittany Ferries at the David Beckham Academy in south-east London.
The former government agency worker was crowned World Ironman Champion in 2007 and 2008 but this year has been particularly special: she smashed the world record in July with a remarkable performance at the Quelle Challenge Roth in Germany, when she set a time of 8:31.59 to break the mark of Yvonne Van Vlerken by 13 minutes and 49 seconds.
Then, last month, in Hawaii, her amazing season saw further glory when she claimed a hat-trick of world titles in a time of 8:54.02, again in a course record.
Her brilliance in combining the 2.4-mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run saw Wellington win this prestigious award today following a four week public vote ahead of Jessica Ennis, Britain’s world heptathlon champion in Berlin this summer.
On winning her award Chrissie said: "It’s a great honour to win this award. I am so proud to represent women in sport and even more proud to represent triathlon. I feel this means we are becoming mainstream".
More at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/article6901149.ece
