Vincent Großer is doing a strong Ironman Tallinn, already has his eye on the World Championship in Hawaii, but has to be content with second place.
Unstoppable on the bike: Vincent Greater. Photo: Bigger
to water (red). “If you lead up to five kilometers from the finish and have the Hawaii qualification so close in front of your eyes, it is of course disappointing if you only finish the race in second in your age group,” said Bigger at the finish of the Ironman Tallinn . In fact, the 23-year-old had just made a brilliant debut in the Ironman long distance of 3.8 kilometers of swimming, 180 kilometers of cycling and 42.2 kilometers of running and achieved a fantastic time of 9:03:13 hours.
But one after the other: Punctually at 7.30 a.m. local time, the starting shot for the Ironman Tallinn / Estonia 2020 was given, which had been postponed from August to September due to the corona pandemic. Some ambitious athletes used the competition to end the competition-free time and to complete at least one competition this year. Larger reached the shores of Lake Harku after 59:17 minutes, which was the third fastest time in his age group (18-24 years) and around five minutes behind the toughest opponent for victory – and thus also the qualification for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii next year – meant.
On the bike it was necessary to implement the instructions of the trainer Mario Schmidt-Wendling, to increase the first kilometers with around 230 watts and then to the actually planned competition level of 260 to 270 watts. A comfortable lead over the competition should be built up to the second transition area. The Fernwälder achieved this target almost perfectly with 4:35:40 hours. The fastest bike time of the day and a nine-minute lead over the Estonian Karl Mell was greater.
In the final marathon, too, it was initially possible to stick to the competition plan. The plan: need about 4:45 minutes per kilometer. In fact, it initially looked as if the project should succeed. Mell had only caught up about 3:30 minutes by then, while Larger’s lead was still about six minutes. But everything turned out differently. Once again it turned out that a marathon run is decided late. While Bigger couldn’t increase his pace, Mell turned it up again from kilometer 30. An additional drop in performance by greater played into the hands of the Estonian. The Balte finally won the Ironman Tallin 2020 in the age group 18-24 in a total time of 8:58:08 hours and thus secured the only slot that will be awarded for the World Championship in Hawaii in 2021.
Larger reached the goal after an equally strong 9:03:13 hours and was able to console himself with the knowledge that he had made a sensational debut on the long distance and achieved a time that would lead to victory in the 18-24 age group at every Ironman in 2019 and would have been enough for the Hawaii qualification. Now it is important for Vincent Großer to take the positive aspects of the first long distance with him, to continue to focus and purposefully work towards the big goal and to make another attempt in the first half of 2021 at Ironman Hamburg or Ironman Switzerland. So maybe he’ll manage the belated jump onto the archipelago after all.
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