Oliver Schiek could hardly believe his luck.

There will actually be another Ironman on Sunday.

It will be the European championship on the long distance.

The setting is Frankfurt - as in all the other years before.

The triathlon is back in Germany.

"I'm slowly starting to really believe it," said Schiek on Thursday, when the traditional task was to provide insights into the upcoming race.

Ralf Weitbrecht

Sports editor.

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Not only for Schiek, the responsible Ironman boss for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, it will be a very special experience when the starting gun is fired on Sunday morning at 6.25 a.m. and the professionals and then the age group athletes their long working day at 3.8 Take on kilometers of swimming, 180 kilometers of cycling and 42.195 kilometers of running. It is also and above all the triathletes who have fevered and trained for this moment. An Ironman has been held for the first time since July 2019. "We are extremely happy," said Schiek, who was modest, "because I contributed the least to this event."

It is the well-rehearsed team of race director Pascal Morillon who has been creating the conditions for year and day so that athletes are offered the perfect stage for competition.

As usual, the police are also on board, who are prepared with a lot of passion and several hundred officers for the day of the day.

"We are prepared for anything that can happen," said the responsible operations manager Erik Hessenmüller, who is certain: "The Ironman 2021 will also be a complete success."

The stars are not there

In order to build on the successful old days in Frankfurt, illustrious names are needed. Anyone who looks at the start list for Sunday and is looking for Jan Frodeno, Patrick Lange or Sebastian Kienle will be disappointed. The stars of the scene are not there. Cancelled. Or otherwise engaged. Just like the former Hawaii winner Kienle, who, like in previous years, swaps his racing machine for the microphone. Kienle's expertise is in demand, and Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) makes use of it for its viewers. HR will once again broadcast the European Championship race live and full day from 6.15 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.

Expert Kienle will have plenty of time and opportunities to talk about the most outstanding starters in this Ironman light race without stars and without professional women. Two of them are German: Maurice Clavel and Franz Löschke. Clavel, the 33-year-old professional who lives in Freiburg, has already completed a triathlon race this year. At the Challenge St. Pölten he was third in the middle distance. In Frankfurt it's the full Ironman route, and Clavel is firmly convinced: “There will be a German victory on Sunday.” So he or Löschke?

Clavel said he was feeling good. “I'm ready.” Nonetheless, he restricted: “The racing engine is rusty. As recently as May, June I thought: Everything is getting worse, nothing will work because of Corona, and I'm in a vacuum. ”The fact is: The Frankfurt Ironman makers around Morillon and Co. are doing it and finally want the athletes offer a platform again. Clavel's promise for Sunday afternoon when it goes into the target channel in front of a mini-backdrop on the Römerberg: "If I get into the top three, I'll tear up my one-piece."

Markus Frank will not do anything like that.

The city council, mostly wrapped in a fine cloth, still responsible for sports in the city, is likely to be much more casual on Sunday.

Frank is already looking forward to the "very special moment when the sun rises over the Langener Waldsee".

In general: In all the years of his work in sport politics, Frank has never failed to recommend himself as a promoter of the "Sports City Frankfurt" - including, of course, on Thursday in the premises of the main sponsor Mainova, who has been loyal to the Ironman for five years now.

Frank is certain that the Ironman “sends out a sign to the region and the world.

The Ironman is a very big flagship of international relevance, ”he said proudly.

"Nice that we are finally starting again."

For Franz Löschke, the second German professional with ambitions to win, which Swede Patrik Nilsson and Briton David McNamee want to prevent, the race in Frankfurt is something very special. "When the Ironman failed last year, my girlfriend and I did a very special Ironman: We had a wonderful son."