Titles are patient.
And so the Frankfurt Ironman was also known as the European Championship on this Sunday.
But that was pretty exaggerated.
The Swede Patrik Nilsson, winner after swimming 3.8 kilometers, cycling 185 kilometers and running 42.195 kilometers, can now call himself Ironman European champion.
His time, 7:59:21 hours, was worth all honors in the great heat, the Swede is actually one of the extended European leaders, but none of the outstanding long distance runners in Europe started in Frankfurt, not even the world's best athletes, the two German ones Ironman world champions Jan Frodeno and Patrick Lange.
The third German Hawaii champion, Sebastian Kienle, came to Frankfurt, but only as a TV commentator for Hessian television.
There was no professional field for women at all.
It had been outsourced for the first time, to Kuopio-Tahko in Finland, where Laura Philipp from Heidelberg was European champion in a time of 8:38:29 hours and secured the right to start the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.
Löschke fastest German
In Frankfurt, Patrik Nilsson was first noticed as the fastest swimmer and then on the bike course when he loudly asked his fellow riders in the group to take part in the leadership work in pursuit of the Belgian Pieter Heemeryck, who was initially the leader. An appeal that fell on deaf ears at first. Heemeryck benefited from this and had a lead of around four minutes up to kilometer 80. But like ice that would have been laid on the hot asphalt, this lead melted when the Dane Kristian Hogenhaug picked up the pace, soon overtook Heemeryck and pulled out around eight minutes ahead of the last transition area.
Eight minutes - a comfortable lead, actually, but it was Nilsson who had best divided the heat race. Five kilometers from the finish he overtook Hogenhaug on the running track and ran towards a safe and superior victory. This time it was not received by thousands of spectators on the Römer. Because of Corona, just like at the start in the morning at Langener Waldsee, only accredited relatives, supervisors and media representatives were allowed. Second was Hogenhaug (8:00:18), British David McNamee third (8:02:29). Heemeryck (8:07:11) saved fourth place from the fastest German that day, Franz Löschke, who missed qualifying for the Ironman World Cup in Hawaii by 21 seconds. Paul Schuster from TuS Griesheim was behind Maurice Clavel (8:09:41) in an excellent seventh place in a time of 8:11:23.
Winner Nilsson, who received $ 30,000 in prize money, reported at the end of a day "on which everything went wrong that could go wrong". Initially depressed underwater when swimming, with technical problems when cycling. But then a marathon where everything worked out. “One of the most painful runs I've ever done.” As a reward, however, the greatest victory of his career.
It has never been so easy for amateurs to secure one of the coveted Hawaii slots in Frankfurt to qualify for the World Cup. Only 1290 starters were on the way this time, instead of almost 4000 in normal years. And yet 100 qualifying places for Hawaii were advertised. Whether these are worth the effort and, above all, the $ 1,010 plus tax plus processing fee that will be billed for it, is questionable for the amateurs who finally made it. Because not even the professionals currently know whether and in what form the Ironman World Cup in Hawaii, which is dated October 9, will take place.
The problem is the current entry regulations into the United States, which make it impossible for tourists from the European Schengen area, among others, to travel directly to America and thus also to Hawaii. For professionals there could be an exemption if the Ironman World Championships should be classified as an event of special national interest. It is still uncertain whether this will happen. The Ironman Company as the organizer is keeping a low profile, and so there are currently only rumors about the season's highlight. A professional race plus a mostly American amateur field await some, but a fortnightly quarantine even for professionals after entry is under discussion.
As for the amateurs, the so-called age groups, who were able to qualify for a start in Hawaii on Sunday, they stand in the middle of the rain, pay their exorbitant entry fee there and are then left to their own devices. Anyone who asks Oliver Schiek, the Ironman boss for the German-speaking countries, about cashing in with the amateurs, without being able to give them a current realistic perspective for a start in Hawaii this year, only gets a succinct answer: This question does not fall into place his jurisdiction.
Well, whoever gets involved in this game, whoever pays for their slot, at least knows that they are doing it. Hope dies last. The hope that the American President Biden will lift the entry ban vis-à-vis the European states in time. Otherwise, the Ironman organizers recommend entry via a third country, such as Mexico, where you would have to stay at least fourteen days before entering the United States. But who can still afford this as an amateur, in terms of time and money?