Competing in his hometown of Port Macquarie in New South Wales, with family and friends cheering him on, Appleton had one of the best performances of his career, earning his first Ironman-distance victory and shattering the course record. Posting a winning time of 7:57:32, he became the first to ever break the eight-hour mark in the event's 37-year history.
“I'm super stoked to take the win here at Ironman Australia," Appleton said. "It means so much to win on home soil in front of family and friends. After a disappointing end to my 2023 season with a crash at Ironman Western Australia, to come back from that and take the win this weekend feels really special."
Appleton got off to a strong start, coming out of the 3.8k swim in the Hastings River first with a lead of nearly three minutes. From there, he hopped on his CADEX Tri frameset with a CADEX Aero WheelSystem and powered through the 180km bike leg with an average speed of 41.2 kilometers per hour. His time of 4:22:31 on the bike helped Appleton hit the run with a two-minute lead.
"The CADEX bike and Disc/4-Spoke combo is an amazing setup," Appleton said. "Not only is it super-fast, it also has all the storage integrated into the frame that I need for all my hydration and nutrition. I don't need to rely on the aid stations at all as I have the capacity to carry everything to get me through the Ironman bike leg.”
The run came down to a tough back-and-forth battle with New Zealander Mike Phillips, who caught Appleton at the 14km mark. The pair swapped leads several times, with Phillips opening a maximum lead of 20 seconds before Appleton finally reeled Phillips in and pulled away at the start of the final 10.5km lap. The Aussie went on to win by 1:47.
"We had a bit of a battle for the back half of the marathon, which was really exciting but I would have preferred a bit more space to be honest," Appleton said. "It feels great to win. I was third last year, so to come back and improve on that is really good. In front of friends and family, it's really special."