Frenchman Dennis Chevrot has taken out Ironman 70.3 Ballarat.
He crossed the line at Lake Wendouree in three hours, 49 minutes and 34 seconds.
Chevrot had just 28 seconds to spare from a fast-finishing Peter Kerr, of Geelong (3:50.02).
Another Australian Sam Betten completed the podium in 3:50.39 in a hectic finish.
Annabel Luxford from Australian reigned supreme in the open women's division for the second year in a row - finishing 29th overall in 04:14:21
She covered the 1.9km swim leg in 25.10, 90km bike ride in 2:21:13 and 21.1km run (3 laps of Lake Wendouree) in 1:25.34
