Satar Salem won the Ironman 70.3 Puerto Princesa crown by clocking four hours, 22 minutes and 25 seconds, besting China’s Junyu Cao by 48 seconds. Salem strategically saved his strength for the run stage and managed to outpace his competitors, particularly Dutchman Eric van der Linden. Salem was able to reserve some strength for the running part, and his tactic paid off, resulting in a significant improvement from his 17th place finish last year. His performance in the run stage was particularly impressive, as he managed to beat last year’s winning time by close to 10 full minutes. On the women’s side, Leyann Ramo dominated the race, finishing with a time of 04:57:46 and winning by almost 27 minutes over Grace Banzon.