Hannah Pace during the bike segment in Queensland.

Hannah Pace claimed a superb third placing in the 18-24 age group category when representing the country at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Australia, last weekend.

Pace, the first Maltese female triathlete to qualify for the challenging race, had earned the right to be on the starting line at Sunshine Coast, Queensland, after making her debut in the series last year.

She performed consistently well and earlier this year, at the Ironman 70.3 in Budapest, she also booked her place at the 2017 World Championships.

In Australia, almost 3,000 triathletes took part in a 1.9km swim, a 90km bike course and a 21km run split over two laps.

“The race did not start as I would have liked as it got a bit overwhelming in the water, so my swim was not one of the best,” Pace said.

“That meant I had to work harder on the bike to move up some places.

“That particular effort took a lot out of me and I was worried at first with the half marathon run coming up but I managed to pull off a pretty fast time.”

Racing was of a high level and Pace, who completed the race in 4:52.39, did not entertain high hopes for a podium placing.

In fact, it was only when she crossed the finish line that she was aware of her third placing in the 18-24 age bracket.

“This was a year of dedication and sheer hard training,” Pace, 47th from among women in the Sunshine Coast race, remarked.

“The level is super high at the Worlds and for a lot of us in this age group the championships are a stepping stone before turning professional.

“Really, I never expected such an amazing result as I finished ahead of some pro athletes considered among the most promising on the international scene.”

Pace’s participation at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships was made possible through the support of SportMalta, Garmin Malta and Go and Fun Green Energy Drink. She is also supported by cfragrances, TeamSport, Team Barry and Emvigee pr.

In Australia, Malta was also represented by Birkirkara St Joseph’s Rudolph Agius.

He produced a very fine race to complete the course in 4 hours 40 minutes and 25 seconds.

Agius has had some very good races this year, most notably his performance at the Ironman 70.3 Calella Barcelona where he made sure of qualification to the next World Championships.