German Patrick Lange has bolted home with a sizzling run to win the Hawaii Ironman world championships, breaking Australian Craig Alexander's course record in the process.
Lange surged to the finish line on the famed Ali'l Drive in Kona on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) in a time of eight hours, one minute and 39 seconds to eclipse Alexander's mark of 8:03:56 clocked when he won his third crown in 2011.
Canadian Lionel Sanders was 2:27min behind in second, followed by Great Britain's David McNamee.
"That was an awesome performance today from Patrick," Alexander told AAP.
"It wasn't super, super quick conditions. Speaking to a few of the boys they said it was a challenging day so he put in a world-class performance."
Former Australian Olympic rower and professional cyclist Cameron Wurf set a bike course record but wilted in the 30 degree Big Island heat - mixed with 65 per cent humidity - to finish a creditable 17th in his Hawaii debut.
Tim Van Berkel (8:28:05) was the best of the Australians in 15th.
Wurf's bike time of 4:12:54 was more than five minutes faster than Normann Stadler's 2006 record.
He entered transition for the 42.2km marathon run 54 seconds ahead of Sanders, who was reeled in by the charging Lange with only five kilometres of the gruelling race to go.
Two-time defending champion Jan Frodeno pulled up lame early on the run but in a gutsy display battled on to finish 35th.
Another Australian, Josh Amberger, blitzed the swim leg to lead by over a minute heading onto the bike.
Australia has a rich history in Hawaii, but hasn't had a top-three finisher in the men's event over the last four years.
Prior to that, victories by Pete Jacobs (2012), Alexander (2011, 2009, 2008) and Chris McCormack (2010 and 2007) meant Australians enjoyed a six-year reign.
Alexander believes some of his compatriots would be disappointed but there's some good talent coming through, such as Amberger, who only stepped up to Ironman-distance racing this year.
"It goes in cycles. We had a good run and now the Germans and Europeans are very strong on the men's side," Alexander said.
"Hopefully some of the (Australian) boys can take the next step."
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