Over 1,700 competitors took part in a blustery Ironman Kalmar Sweden over the weekend, with two first-time winners crowned on August 18th - including Great Britain's Jodie Swallow.
Swallow was the first swimmer out of the water for the transition to bike, and never let go of the lead in the women's race to charge home in 08:54:01, over 20 minutes ahead of Sweden's Eva Nyström in second.
The Essex-based athlete, 32, is the current Ironman 70.3 world champion, and her performance in Kalmar places her among the elite group of athletes that have completed the Ironman distance (3.8km swim/180km/42.2km) in under nine hours.
Meanwhile, Portugal's Pedro Gomes won the men's event with a time of 08:19:30. Tobias Borger, CEO of organisers Kalmar Triathlon, paid tribute to the competitors' tenacity, saying: "We are satisfied with the race that was completed under tough conditions, especially due to the wind that affected the athletes’ stamina."