Congratulations on a memorable win on the longest and arguably hottest day of summer. Under extreme conditions, Jan Frodeno once again achieved impressive success at the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt. Jan was able to win the Ironman European Championship in the Main metropolis for the third time after 2015 and 2018. In a dramatic race he beat the heat of Frankfurt in 7:56:02 hours ahead of Sebastian Kienle and Franz Loeschke. The two-time Ironman World Champion thus underlined his ambitions for another World Championship triumph in October in Hawaii.
the race
At 6:25 a.m., the athletes started the Ironman European Championship with the 3.8-kilometer swim section. Right from the start, Jan started the race from the front in the 25 degree warm water and was able to easily pull away from the competition. After 47 minutes, he was the first to come out of the water and set out as the leader on the 180-kilometer bike course. His strongest opponent that day, Sebastian Kienle, followed him with a pained face. The reason was a shard of glass that he had walked on his heel in transition zone 1. A tricky scene on the bike also caused a moment of shock for Jan. The defending champion of the past year ended up off the track for a short time and lost his food supply due to braking caused by an irritation caused by the lead bike. “The lead bike was suddenly on the racing line in front of me, which caused me to misbrake and slightly skid at the rear. I was very lucky there”, he was visibly relieved after the end of the race. After Kienle was able to catch up to him despite his injury, both drove into transition zone 2 at the same time, where Kienle first had to have the broken piece removed. After Jan had fairly inquired about his opponent, he set out on the 42.195 marathon kilometers. Although Kienle was able to catch up again in the meantime, he finally pulled away here and was the first to cross the finish line in the heated battle in Frankfurt.
An overwhelmed winner
The hardships of the extreme race were clearly visible to Jan at the finish area. Nevertheless, he was overjoyed with the successful dress rehearsal for Hawaii: "So much happened today, so much drama. I think that was one of my best races today, even if it's one of the worst right now. That's racing.” With this performance under extreme conditions, Jan demonstrated his strength and showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with in Kona. However, he himself exercised restraint with regard to Hawaii: "To be honest, I felt quite frail in the heat. There's still room for improvement in Kona.” Before the showdown at the prestigious Ironman in Hawaii on October 12, he will start at the Ironman 70.3 Gdynia. But first you have to regenerate – in order to be able to approach the next major tasks with a cool head.
