900 days without a World Cup

When we fight and sweat for the title at the Ironman World Championship this Saturday, the champions of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 Patrick Lange and Jan Frodeno, who has to recover from a partial tear of his Achilles tendon, will be missing.

It will be a world championship with special circumstances, for the first time since 1978 the Ironman world champions will not be crowned in Hawaii. In 2020 and 2021, the classic event in the triathlon mecca had to be canceled due to the corona pandemic. The World Cup, which is now taking place in St. George in the US state of Utah, is the catch-up date. In October, a cannon shot will once again send thousands of athletes onto the track in Hawaii.

Due to the absence of the best German athletes, one of the top favorites is becoming even more important: Kristian Blummenfelt, 28 years old, Norwegian and dominator of the previous year. Blummenfelt won the world title over the short distance, Olympic gold and in a fantastic world record time of 7.22.12:7:XNUMX hours in his long distance debut in the Ironman of Cozumel. Blummenfelt's big plan to break the magic mark of XNUMX hours will not be possible on the difficult course.

Olympic champion Blummenfelt is increasingly specializing in the long distance and wants to win the next title. © APA/afp / LOIC VENANCE

In addition to Blummenfelt, the closest circle of favorites includes compatriot Gustav Iden, two-time world champion over half the distance, former runner-up world champion Lionel Sanders from Canada and two-time Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee from Great Britain. Surprises are not excluded on a selective cycling route with almost two and a half thousand meters of altitude and a hilly marathon. It will be a strenuous working day without a break for more than seven and a half hours.

While Frodeno is missing among the men, the defending champion is at the start among the women. The 39-year-old German Anne Haug is looking forward to the upcoming World Cup: “For me personally, it doesn’t matter where the competition takes place, a World Cup is a World Cup.” From the point of view of equal opportunities, it is actually not bad to have a World Cup in a different location close. Especially because Hawaii is more than a challenge with the heat, extreme humidity and the dreaded Mumuku winds, says Haug. Three-time vice world champion Lucy Charles-Barclay from Great Britain had to cancel her start due to a hip injury.

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900 days without a World Cup

After more than two and a half years, the Ironman World Championship is returning, not in Hawaii as usual, but in Utah, new territory for everyone involved.

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