Ironman World Championship 2013 Results: Winners, Complete Times and More

Just a word to the wise. Should you ever run into Frederik Van Lierde somewhere, don't ever challenge him to an athletic competition. Ever.

The 34-year-old Belgian is your 2013 Ironman after winning the 2013 World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. He finished with a time of eight hours, 12 minutes and 29 seconds. It broke down to 51:02 in the 2.4-mile swimming portion, 04:25:37 on the 112-mile bicycling leg and finally a time of 02:51:18 on the 26.2-mile run.

It's his first-ever title in Hawaii, via Triathlete Magazine:

He had previously won other gold medals on the Ironman circuit, but never before had he reigned supreme in Hawaii.

It's probably fair to say Van Lierde has allowed himself to take a trip to the nearest pizza place, followed up by some dessert.

The Ironman is the most grueling competition in sports. At no other time are you asked to do so much in so little a time. Rather than just being a physical test, you have to have the mental strength to push through whatever warning signs your body is sending you.

Scenes like this are not all that uncommon.

Fortunately, Van Lierde didn't break down before reaching the finish line. Upon getting to the end, he slowed down to revel in the moment, via chicrunner on Instagram:

After the race, Van Lierde said that last year's third-place finish in the world championship gave him the kind of belief necessary to come out on top, via Mars Callo:

While always hanging near the top of the standings, he waited until about two hours into the run before he finally made his move on the leader, Luke McKenzie, via Ironman's Twitter account.

It has to be a frustrating result for McKenzie. While he managed a second-place finish, at 08:15:19, he had been leading for most of the race. During the marathon, his once-safe lead had been slowly but surely evaporating. Once Van Lierde passed him, that was all she wrote.

Give a lot of credit to the winner. He paced himself perfectly He made sure to not fall back too far on the first two legs, conserving his energy for that final run. He made sure to have enough left so that when he did kick it into gear, he wouldn't tire himself out.

Having spent most of the race in isolation, Van Lierde was surrounded by spectators cheering him on through the final stretch, via Laura O'Meara on Instagram:

Sebastian Kienle rounded out the podium with a time of 08:19:24.

Here's how the top 10 shook out, courtesy of Ironman's official website.

Pos.	Runner	Country	Time
1	Frederik Van Lierde	Belgium	08:12:29
2	Luke McKenzie	Australia	08:15:19
3	Sebastian Kienle	Germany	08:19:24
4	James Cunnama	South Africa	08:21:46
5	Tim O'Donnell	United States	08:22:25
6	Ivan Rana	Spain	08:23:43
7	Tyler Butterfield	Bermuda	08:24:09
8	Bart Aernouts	Belgium	08:25:38
9	Timo Bracht	Germany	08:26:32
10	Faris Al-Sultan	Germany	08:31:13