Bahrain Endurance Team 13 member Jan Frodeno once again made history winning the 2019 Ironman World Championship with a new course record time of 7:51:13.
He is now also the first German to win three Kona titles, overtaking Normann Stadler and Patrick Lange with two wins apiece.
Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, representative of His Majesty for Charity Works and Youth Affairs and chairman of Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Affairs, expressed his delight at the historic victory achieved by Frodeno.
The choppy conditions in the 3.8km swim in Kailua Bay favoured the strong swimmers. Frodeno and Bahrain Endurance 13 teammate Alistair Brownlee tucked in behind leader Josh Amberger to exit four and five seconds respectively behind his blistering 47:28 pace.
Onto the 180km bike course, Frodeno and Brownlee worked with the front pack of five athletes including Amberger and Tim O’Donnell, growing their lead versus the chase pack to two minutes, 31 seconds by the time they hit the Hawi turnaround. While Brownlee picked up a flat rear tyre, a quick change had him chasing back to join the men’s leaders.
Frodeno then stepped on the gas to gap O’Donnell by more than two minutes going into the bike-to-run transition with a bike split of 4:16:03. This gave Frodeno some buffer to the storming chase group that included fellow German and previous Kona champion Sebastian Kienle.
Out on the marathon, Frodeno continued to build what would be an insurmountable lead. Combined with the blistering swim and bike splits he had laid down, his 2:42:43 run split took him to the new course record amid the roar of the crowd at the finish line on Ali’i Drive. O’Donnell was second while Kienle snatched up third.
“Honestly, this last week has been such a roller-coaster. I got so many messages and it just made me realise that for all the nerves and all the hard work, it’s just the best feeling to be out here on race day, to be able to, for a minute or two, appreciate it,” said Frodeno.
Grateful
After the frustration of walking the marathon due to back pain in 2017 and missing 2018 entirely, he was grateful for the chance to compete on the sport’s biggest stage once again.
Meanwhile, Brownlee got off the bike in sixth place and ran well for the first five kms until the wheels fell off.
He held on to finish 21st for his Kona debut and what was technically his first time to cover the entire Ironman distance.
David Plese finished a few places behind Brownlee in 26th.
While Daniela Ryf’s attempt to defend her Ironman World Championship title did not go according to plan, she never surrendered.
Visibly laboured in her running stride on the closing ams of the marathon, she still fought to finish 13th.
Anne Haug won the women’s race to complete a German double.