Triathlon fight in Ibiza
Frodeno suffers, Haug mercilessly pulls away from everyone
May 6, 2023 at 3:12 p.m
Anne Haug once again proves her world class: At the triathlon race in Ibiza, she starts a race to catch up on the running track that no one can match. For men, on the other hand, there is a surprise winner – and Jan Frodeno is also fighting with himself on his comeback.
Anne Haug’s face flashed a smile long before the blue carpet this time, then she quickly took off her sunglasses and grabbed the finish line: The 40-year-old Ironman World Champion once again demonstrated her greatest strength in triathlon. After 2 kilometers of swimming and 80.2 kilometers on the bike, the Bayreuth native started the 17.8 kilometer long run to catch up and win the PTO European Open in Ibiza.
“I’m really happy with my race,” said Haug: “It was the first race of the year against the best in the world. I always believed that I could do it.” After a total of 100 kilometers and 3:38:01 hours, Haug was almost two and a half minutes ahead of Australian Ashleigh Gentle on Saturday. Long-time leader three-time Hawaii runner-up Lucy Charles-Barclay finished third.
For her compatriot Jan Frodeno, on the other hand, things did not go so well. The 41-year-old Olympic champion from 2008 and three-time Ironman world champion missed more than 600 days after he was last able to finish a race in fourth place on the podium – in the much-vaunted battle of the generations, Frodeno could not keep up with the much younger opponents.
“Not the dream start”
“It was a tough comeback,” he said at the finish. He suffered a lot, but no pain. “I’m therefore happy that I can continue now and prepare for another great season, even if it wasn’t the dream start,” emphasized Frodeno. The Ironman European Championship in Hamburg is already in a month.
However, the new superstar of the scene did not secure the victory in the men’s category either. The 29-year-old Olympic champion from Tokyo and Ironman world champion from St. George, Kristian Blummenfelt from Norway, had to hand over first place and the 100,000 US dollar prize to Max Neumann from Australia, who was two years his junior. Third place went to Magnus Ditlev from Denmark.
It was 616 days since Frodeno last finished a race. 2022 had been a year to forget with a partial Achilles tendon tear, a wheel fall and hip surgeries. Frodeno had to postpone the comeback at the beginning of April this year because of a virus. “The kids can’t even remember one of his races,” said Frodeno’s wife Emma, herself a former triathlon Olympic champion.
Frodeno got out of the water in second place, changed faster than the leader up to that point, but then didn’t get into the cycling shoe and was overtaken again by some rivals. Blummenfelt came out of the water about a minute later. Together with Ditlev, the Norwegian worked his way up and caught up with the group around Frodeno.
At the top, a trio with Neumann, Frodeno’s training partner Kyle Smith and two-time Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee initially pulled away. The three soon became four: Ditlev caught up. Frodeno and Blummenfelt either couldn’t or didn’t want to keep up with the pace of the 25-year-old Dane. The two lost more seconds to the lead on the bike. It was about a minute for the two at the second change. Up front, Brownlee set the pace ahead of Smith and even picked it up – too much, as so often. The Brit fell behind. Neumann took the lead and defended it to the finish.
Haug faster than many men
In the women’s race, which started later, Haug was once again able to rely on her exceptional running qualities. She came out of the water in 17th place, 2:44 minutes behind top swimmer Charles-Barclay. The 29-year-old Briton also defended her lead on the bike course. Haug, 1.64 meters tall and weighing around 51 kilograms, overtook Charles-Barclay while running ten kilometers from the finish. Both high-five respectfully. The Brit was also passed by Gentle.
Haug needed 1:02:55 hours for the running distance. Men’s winner Neumann from Australia had previously needed just under four minutes less, 14 of the 26 professional men had been slower than Haug.