German double victory in Hawaii
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Frodeno and Haug write Ironman history
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Jan Frodeno celebrates after crossing the finish line.
Photo: dpa / Marco Garcia
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Frankfurt Jan Frodeno and Anne Haug achieved the first German double victory at the Ironman World Cup in Hawaii. While Frodeno lived up to his role as favorite in his record win, Haug landed a surprise coup.
Jan Frodeno stormed to a record victory, an hour later Anne Haug crowned the most successful day in German Ironman history: The duo fought for the world championship title with great performances and achieved the first black, red and gold double strike in Hawaii. While top favorite Frodeno was the first German to win the most important race on the scene for the third time, Haug was the first ever German winner.
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Frodeno, who had already triumphed in 2015 and 2016, mastered the 3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling and 42.195 km running in 7:51:13 hours – faster than anyone before him in the triathlon Mecca. The 38-year-old won on Saturday ahead of Tim O’Donnell (USA / + 8: 26 minutes) and Sebastian Kienle (Mühlacker / + 10: 51 minutes).
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Photo: dpa / David Pintens
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“I don’t care about records. I won here, at the Wimbledon of our sport. It’s a great feeling,” said Frodeno in the finish area: “The last few meters demanded a lot from me. But the fans screamed me into the finish.”
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Haug’s furious catch-up was at least as impressive. At her second start in Hawaii, the 36-year-old was more than eight minutes behind the British Lucy Charles-Barclay at the start of the marathon, who was overtaken after 25 km. Haug reached the finish line after 8:40:10 hours.
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Was that the starting signal for a similar success story for women as for men? Since 2014 only German men have won in Hawaii. Kienle had started the series, after which Frodeno and Patrick Lange triumphed twice each. Because of fever, defending champion Lange, whose course record Frodeno undercut by 1:26 minutes, had to give up prematurely this year.
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The 33-year-old, who had to digest numerous sporting setbacks during the season and also private setbacks in the week before the World Cup race, became dizzy after a third of the bike distance. He parked his bike on the side of the track, “because it’s too dangerous to be blacked out for a second or two,” said his manager Jan Sibbersen on hr television.
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That was all the more annoying because, like Frodeno, he had an excellent start to the day at 6:25 a.m. In high waves, the strong swimmer Frodeno was right at the front from the start, as expected, but surprisingly, Lange, who was rated as weaker, stayed in the fastest group. Only Kienle fell far behind: While his two compatriots got on the bike just a few seconds behind the front, the ex-champion was 4:50 minutes behind.
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On two wheels, the two-time Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee initially pushed hard on the pedals, the debutants had previously classified the Germans as a great danger. In order to stifle a soaring flight of the British in the bud, Frodeno took the lead after almost 20 km. At this point, Lange had lost a little more than a minute and Kienle had caught up around a minute.
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When Lange got off his bike with sagging shoulders and was led into an escort vehicle by a supervisor, Kienle had already driven past him. And the 35-year-old also made up time for the top group. After half of the bike course, Kienle was only 2:24 minutes behind – but then the gap widened again. He started the marathon with no chance of winning.
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