We recently reported that Marino Vanhoenacker was injured and an unlikely starter in Kona this year and today he announced that the injury was worse than expected and he would take a few weeks off to recover and then focus on next year.

On his Facebook page Marino made the following statement today:

"Few days before Ironman Frankfurt I got to sense some stiffness and pains around the abdomen, at that time it did not feel like it would limit me and with the tapering in full progress it did not worry me too much.

Race day was a different story, the pain was there right from the swim start, on the bike it was not, no limitations there but on the run, disaster, proper running was not possible. I decided to cruise along and get my points for Kona. After I would have my recovery from Ironman and let it heal in that period and then go from there.

In the week after Ironman Frankfurt I traveled between hospitals and doctors to have tests, to try to build a diagnose and most important to decide on a treatment for the problem.

Diagnose was a bit worse than I expected: stress fracture of the pubic bone, small avulsion (is like really little peace of bone that came loose), and lots of edema on the pubic bone.

Treatment: heavy Calcium / Vit D tabs and laser treatment on the spot, and anti inflammatory, massage, exercises, .....

Training wise I started with easy biking after 2 weeks (was perfect), one week later easy swims and no pains here either so that looked good. Yesterday I did my first run and this was ok, but today I tried to run off the bike and this was not working at all.

So it seems all though swim and bike is pain free it still must build up tension in the area and then switching to the run is not an option.

So Here I am. This week my preparation for Ironman WC Hawaii had to kick of and I can not even run because of an injury. An Injury that we tried to treat as fast as possible so the Hawaii option would stay open. I honestly believe we tried everything to make it in time, to treat it to the max but my Body gives me signs that this will not be possible so I ran out of options and the only thing left for me to do is pull the plug and try to approach the problem by giving it time. This means that the next 3 weeks I will have my Winter Break (strange thought) and I hope that will be enough to heal. I will go thru the tests again at the end of these 3 weeks and hopefully get a green light.

I will use these 3 weeks to heal my body as well physically as mentally and I will try to lay out a new master plan, with a late Ironman in 2013 and with Ironman WC Hawaii 2014 at the end of that journey.

It gives me a good feeling that my sponsors TOPSPORT DEFENSIE, PEWAG, SCOTT, ALPHAWOOLF and co-sponsors, support me in this decision and do keep on believing in my plans for the future!"


Marino also made a comment regarding the injury and how it is unrelated to getting points for Kona.

"There is a lot of talk going on again on the different media, my name pops up in most of these comments right now, so, for the first time ever I will comment on the KPR. I never had any problem with it, and even now I still do not have a problem with it. I can understand that not everybody is happy with it, therefore we are all different people with different opinions. The fact that I will not be in Hawaii is because of an injury and not because of the points. Last year I made a plan; the 3 biggest races in the world (Melbourne-Frankfurt-Hawaii) was my goal and Wiesbaden would be my backup plan if anything would go wrong. Injury decided different about this plan and that is it 'full stop.'

Lets not go to the 'what if’s' and let me point out to you that there is one guy out there who is executing my 2013 plan with wins in Melbourne - Frankfurt - ... so it can be done."