Former Nutri-Grain Ironman champion Ali Day has made a stellar comeback, taking out the opening round of the 2021 Nutri-Grain IronMan Series.
The 30-year-old Ironman missed the last season due to injury, but didn’t miss a beat in today’s race leading from the outset, dominating the field.
After a tight opening swim leg, Day took control of the race in the board leg, putting daylight between the pack and going on to deliver a comfortable win.
Newport’s Jackson Borg tried to chase down Day for the entire 35 minutes, falling just short finishing second, with Gold Coast young gun Jy Timperley putting in an impressive performance to take out third.
670 days since his last event, Day was just grateful to be back racing in the sport that he loves.
“I’ve had so many great people support me during this time, and I was thinking on the last ski leg I’m going to win, but my mind kept telling me to switch off to back what I was doing to get the job done,” Day said,
“It’s only really starting to sink in now, this really means a lot to me.
“I turned up this morning and I knew that I was prepared and I knew I’d dedicated a lot of time. But I just wanted to really enjoy it, I’m 30 now and by no means is that old but I first qualified when I was 19.
“I’m over the moon, but we’ve got to back up again tomorrow so I’ve got to go home and recover now well and I’m looking forward to the next 2 days,” he said.
For the full results from today and current leader board click here.