German star wins Ironman 70.3 World Championship
Germany’s Jan Frodeno was crowned the Isuzu Ironman 70.3 World Championship men’s winner after crossing the finish line in three hours, 36 minutes and 30 seconds in a very competitive race which finished at Hobie Beach on Sunday.
British triathlete Alistair Brownlee settled for second place coming in 3.37.41, following a fascinating duel between Frodeno and Javier Gomez Noya.
Brownlee took the lead early in the run but Frodeno soon took over and kept striding away until he crossed the finish line.
Defending champion Gomez Noya who suffered some stomach cramps on the run, finished third in 3.38.26.
James Cunnama who was the only South African professional athlete on the start line, finished 19th.
Frodeno, 37, who spent most of his childhood (1992-2004) in Cape Town where he started off as a swimmer at the age of 15 years, said he was happy to have won in front of what he considered his “second home crowd”.
“I am very happy – what a special day,” Frodeno said.
“This is the first time in six years that I have been back. To come here is special for one but then to perform in front of a second home crowd is just epic.
“The last time I raced in Nelson Mandela Bay was in 2001. Those were my very early days in triathlon back in the day. I crashed somewhere a few kilometres down the road and never made it in transition two.
“It’s been a long time coming and being a champion is just so real, it’s fantastic.”
Frodeno also had to deal with an incident in the second transition area where an official instructing a volunteer walked into his bike. He said the incident gave him the adrenaline needed on the run.
“I was a little bit angry because Allistair and I did all the work all day on the bike. We tried to break away and nobody came. Ben Kanute came out once, but I really wanted to hold the flag high at least on the foot race.”
Two-time Triathlon World Champion Brownlee, 30 said he wanted to win but was happy with his second-place finish.
“It was a hard day today. I wanted the swim to be very quick and I don’t think it was that quick, with Jan coming through we kind of slowed down a bit.
“I wanted to go out hard on that first round of the bike but I just didn’t have great legs and I took my time.”
On Saturday Swiss triathlete Daniela Ryf clinched her fourth Ironman 70.3 title when she crossed the finish line in four hours, one minute and one second at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships for women at Hobie Beach on Saturday.
This year's African Championship winner Lucy Charles of Great Britain took second place in a time of 4.04.58 while, Germany’s Anne Haug finished third in 4.07.21.