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After his successful performances at the half distance events in St. Pölten, Austria and Luxembourg, Vanhoenacker decided to race IM Whistler to secure a spot within the first 40 men in the Kona Pro Ranking which equals an automatic qualification for the World Championships in October. To get familiar with the peculiarities of the relatively new race in Canada, Vanhoenacker traveled to Whistler already 3 weeks before the race. The final preparation in Whistler paid off and Vanhoenacker added another IM title to his CV. The Belgian exited the swim with the first pack and from there raced his own race. With a race-fastest 4:31:34 bike split, Vanhoenacker entered T2 with a lead of 10 minutes on the chase group. Despite the sizzling fast bike time, Vanhoenacker was able to maintain a high pace throughout the closing discipline clocking a 2:51:17 marathon. Second place finisher Jeff Symonds crossed the finish line almost 10 minutes after the flying Belgian. With the win, Vanhoenacker moved up the Kona Pro Ranking and is currently in the top 20. With the cut-off date on August 31th and a small number of IM races left, Vanhoenacker is likely to line up at the World Championships in Kona later this year. (photo by Heather Wurtele)
