Only one man stole the show: Kristian Blummenfelt has just won the European Championships Ironman in Frankfurt. He raced strongly all day, but it was during the marathon he left no one to follow and took a sublime victory.
The pressure was undoubtedly high because after a few disappointing Short Distance performances, including the Olympic Games in Paris where he finished in twelfth position, many wondered whether Blummenfelt was still in good shape. Today there was one answer and it was a resounding yes.
During the swim – in rainy conditions – the pace was immediately high and it was Wilhelm Hirsch who took the initiative; the German was the first to return from the water after 45:51, but saw a large group with many favorites at his feet. Not surprisingly, Blummenfelt was also among them, but also men such as Florian Angert, Ruben Zepuntke and Jesper Svensson.
Anyone who expected that a large group would form at the front would have been disappointed; the fastest swimmer of the day, Hirsch, also took off solo on his bike and after thirty kilometers he already had a one-minute lead. Yet there was one man who cycled much faster; the Dane Kristian Hogenhaug. With a gap of two minutes after the swim, the überbiker quickly rode to the front, catching up with Hirsch after only 45 kilometers and not much later riding away from him again and thus taking the lead solo. The fact that it was slippery due to the rain became apparent when Hogenhaug hit the asphalt hard after eighty kilometers after his rear tire slipped in a bend, but the Dane quickly continued his way and remained in the lead.
In the meantime, a number of large groups emerged behind the leader; Behind Hogenhaug a group emerged with about fourteen athletes, including Blummenfelt, and behind it was another large group, including Patrick Lange. Despite the fact that it was the former world champion who did most of the leading work there – something that Lange was visibly irritated about – this group also lost more and more time.
That was actually no wonder, because Hogenhaug was really on a roll and eventually – and despite his crash and slippery conditions – recorded a bike course record: 3:57:09. When the Dane started the marathon, which was not very easy when he first had to find where to hang his bike and then broke the temple of his running glasses, Zepuntke followed in second at 2:44 minutes. Behind this, a group including Blummenfelt followed at 4:50 minutes.
During the run, the man who many hoped could still do it stood up: Blummenfelt. He ran at an almost astonishing pace within ten kilometers to Hogenhaug, and immediately took over the lead in the race. The only man who could follow somewhat was the British Kieran Lindars, who was about twenty seconds behind. These two men were in the first two positions and even though Blummenfelt took a short break in a dixi to make a sanitary stop, Lindars was unable to close the gap. In fact; Blummenfelt increased his lead and seemed to be heading for a high-profile victory.
While Blummenfelt saw his lead grow and grow, it also turned out that he went deep to realize that; a few times he ran while vomiting, but his pace did not slow down. After about thirty kilometers, his lead over Lindars had increased to 2:40 minutes, while the Italian Gregory Barnaby, who was third, was 3:19 minutes behind.
In the final phase it became clear that Blummenfelt no longer had any difficulty in taking the victory. He pushed on and eventually Blummenfelt clocked a winning time of 7:27:21. Lindars came second in 7:32:14 and Barnaby third in 7:33:44.
