The debilitating, destructive heat dominated the Ironman European Championship at Frankfurt. In 100-plus Fahrenheit temperatures, Jan Frodeno and countryman Sebastian Kienle came closest to beating the heat as the 2008 Olympic champion broke the 8-hour barrier before finding himself unable to stand at the finish after his victory. Kienle finished 3:59 behind Frodeno for the silver and just one second over the 8 hour mark himself.
Illustrating just how superior Frodeno and Kienle were on the day, 3rd place finisher and fellow German Franz Loeschke crossed the line 20 minutes back of Frodeno and 17:24 behind Kienle.
Adding to the stress of the heat was Frodeno’s back and forth tussle with Kienle. “What. A. Day,” he posted on Facebook. “A near crash on the bike, getting caught by Sebastian Kienle, running away from him, getting caught again and finally digging very deep to take it home - IRONMAN European Champ. Madness! It has never been so beautiful and at the same time so painful at the finish.”
Perhaps the most serious challenge to the duel at the top was Kienle’s injury arriving at T2. When Frodeno arrived at transition, he stopped to check on Kienle, who was getting treatment from medical personnel because he’d stepped on a glass shard.
“I heard he cut his foot -- someone told me during the bike -- and I just wanted to make sure he’s there and encourage him because I didn’t know how bad it was,” Frodeno told a Bahrain 13 media representative. “It turns out, it doesn’t hurt a champion like him.”
Typical of his customary sportsmanship, Kienle ignored the pain and fought back. Revealing of his character, Kienle did not mention the cut in his post-race comments.
“I tried to bring the heat to Jan, but finally the heat got me," Kienle posted on Facebook. "After the half of the run course I managed to catch Jan. It was a quick hi and goodbye - unfortunately for me in the wrong direction. This time second place does not feel like first loser, but like second winner.”
Before the race, there was high anticipation of a battle between three Germans who comprise the most recent Ironman World Champions - Kienle (2014), Frodeno (2015, 2016) Lange (2017, 2018). But Lange suffered a flat tire which took several minutes to repair and took all the air out of his game. Lange then he soldiered on simply to validate his Kona entry and finished 11th in 8:47: 49.
So for the potential thrill of three Kona champions duking it out? Two out of three ain’t bad.
If anyone feared that this was a signal that Lange was entering a serious career decline, they should check his record. In two of the last the years, Lange had clunker performances in mid-season but showed up at Kona in stellar, race-winning form.
Given conditions, Frodeno and Kienle’s performances were epic as the rest of the field finished 20 or more minutes arrears.
The win was Frodeno’s 3rd at the prestigious Ironman Frankfurt venue, in addition to his 2008 Olympic gold, two Ironman World Championships and two Ironman 70.3 World titles.
Frodeno’s splits were outstanding even for an ideal-weather day: a race-best 47:12 swim, a second-best to Kienle 4:20:14 split for the 185 kilometer bike leg, and race-best 2:43:57 marathon.
But the drama of the women's race overshadowed the men. Sarah True, who finished 2nd at this race last year and capped it off with a 2:54 marathon, ran past bike leader Imogen Simmonds of Switzerland in the first kilometers of the run and built an 8 minute lead until she started to suffer badly in the heat. With just 1 kilometer to go, True found herself unable to continue and was treated by medical personnel. It took 7 minutes before fellow U.S. competitor Skye Moench ran by and finished in 9:15:31 with a 10:30 margin of victory over Imogen Simmonds of Switzerland and 20:54 ahead of 3rd place finisher Jen Annett of Canada.
True, who recently finished 4th at Kona, said later she could not remember the last two miles of the marathon. True posted on Instagram: "One of my goals this year was to win a big race. With 1 km to go and a 7 minute lead, it looked like that would happen for me to today at #IMFrankfurt. Instead of lifting the finish tape, however, I ended up collapsing and needing medical care. Super scary, frustrating and disappointing. I still don’t have an Ironman win or a Kona slot. But I’m grateful to have gotten great care and that @danlorang (coach of Jan Frodeno and Anne Haug) was there. Congrats to everyone who managed the heat better than I did. Running a marathon in 100 degre weather is brutal!"
While Moench has become one of the most reliable podium finishers this year with a 2nd place finish to Daniela Ryf at Ironman 70.3 Switzerland, a 2nd at Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga as well as a 4th at the highly competitive Ironman 70.3 St. George, this victory was a big breakthrough.
Ironman European Championship
Frankfurt, Germany
June 30. 2019
S 2.4 mi. / B 12 ,i. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Men
1. Jan Frodeno (GER) 7:56:02 S 47:12 T1 3:00 B 4:20:14 T2 1:42 R 2:43:57
2. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 8:00:01 S 49:22 T1 3:28 B 4:17:36 T2 2:09 R 2:47:27
3. Franz Loeschke (GER) 8:17:24 S 49:06 T1 2:48 B 4:35:19 T2 1:59 R 2:48:15
4. Tobias Drachler (GER) 8:23:57 S 49:10 T1 2:53 B 4:35:13 T2 1:50 R 2:54:53
5. Philipp Koutny (SUI) 8:24:56 S 49:12 T1 2:59 B 4:28:20 T2 1:47 R 3:02:41
6. Matt Russell (USA) 8:26:32
Women
1. Skye Moench (USA) 9:15:31 S 57:31 T1 3:26 B 4:58:39 T2 1:55 R 3:14:01
2. Imogen Simmonds (SUI) 9:26:01 S 52:42 T1 3:27 B 5:03:30 T2 1:46 R 3:24:38
3. Jen Annett (CAN) 9:36:25 S 59:26 T1 3:26 B 5:12:28 T2 2:00 R 3:19:07
4. Amelia Watkinson (NZL) 9:49:32 S 52:41 T1 3:18 B 5:14:49 T2 2:34 R 3:36:11
5. Saleta Castro (ESP) 10:10:01 S 57:58 T1 3:21 B 5:26:31 T2 3:02 R 3:39:12
