Triathlon: Long drama after a cold: “Until you fall over”

Patrick had to be supported for a long time, a short time later he was weak with a pale face in a corner of the target area of ​​Nice. The 39 -year -old and bitter defending defending champion had to be treated. He had given everything over the 3.86 kilometers swimming, 180.2 kilometers cycling and 42.2 kilometers – and nothing won, except for great respect for his sports spirit. “I left everything outside,” he said: “Until he falls over.”

The dream of the historic fourth Ironman World Cup triumph became a race with suffering, pain and a great disappointment. Over 22 minutes after the Norwegian surprise winner Casper Stornes, who had never won an Ironman before, dragged himself to the finish line for a long time, including three places behind Jonas Schomburg.

For a long time, however, it didn’t want to give up when he was cut off and not even in the top 30 before the change was on the running track. “That shouldn’t be an excuse, at the beginning of the week I was a bit sick, had a sore throat, had to expose something in training,” said Lange, who was still happy in the end to have managed to have done it in the top ten.

“It was a hard, honest race”

For Schomburg, who also had to pay for his courageous and aggressive race strategy a bit, that was even more important. The 31-year-old from Hanover nevertheless came sixth in his World Cup premiere as the best German of a total of eight professionals. “It was a hard, honest race,” he said: “I can’t accuse myself of anything.” Lange Lange did not comment on his finish. He had briefly raised his hand upwards, then he had to support himself.

The podium at the last award of the title in Nice made Norway among themselves – that was not totally surprising. The fact that the 28-year-old cancellation, however, would have to beat the two ex-world champions Gustav Idn and Kristian Blummenfelt, who was limping to the finish line with cramps, and would be able to win with over two and a half minutes and route record time.

For a long time, the day started with an eye-catcher: in the coat with a pink lining and leopard look, it also kept warm before the start in the early morning. Neoprene suits were prohibited, the Mediterranean water had a cozy 25 degrees. So you also know it from Hawaii, where long in 2017 and 2018 won and after six years in 2024 again triumphed and the men then compete with the women again next year. It will be 40 years old for a long time.

He wanted to use the chance to continue to reconnect with the Ironman legend Dave Scott and Mark with their six World Cup titles each in Nice. With four titles, he would have passed Jan Frodeno and rose to the most successful German long-distance triathlete. “That would mean the world to me. That is what I train for my life, for which I get up every morning,” emphasized long before the race.

Strong Schomburg from the start, stumbling long

But after the healthy start of the racing week, it wasn’t optimal when swimming, certainly not on the bike. In the front of the water and then in the mountains, on the other hand, a lot of pressure made a lot of pressure, for a long time with a gap of over two minutes to the picturesque, but with 2,400 meters of wholesome bike. And he lost more and more time.

Due to addituded inflammation, two months had not been able to do running training in the first year of the year. The misery continued in Nice.

In 2019, at the World Cup in Hawaii and the attempt to create the title of HatTrick, he had to give up health-stricken on the bike route. He even reported dizziness afterwards. This time he pulled through and said goodbye to the last World Cup race in Nice with dignity and world championship decency. He needed 2:31:33 hours for the marathon.

When he finally attracted the running shoes in the transition zone, the tip was already on the way back from the airport: 21:08 minutes they were long ahead of the 32th place.

Stones then had the best legs at the marathon. Almost all of them had a leak and identical at the top of the bill, but then he duped the more established compatriots and, on the way to his greatest success, struck his hands in disadvantage.