KAILUA-KONA — Jan Frodeno stopped a couple feet shy of the finish line and took a moment to appreciate the first ever repeat victory of his career.
The back-to-back champion turned to the clamoring crowd lining the narrow alleyway cut into Alii Drive — which marks the last handful of steps each athlete takes through the 140.6 mile gauntlet that is the Ironman World Championship — raised his arms and bellowed triumphantly his appreciation to the pulsing sea of spectators.
The 35-year-old from Germany then turned again, and with two emphatic steps sealed his place in Ironman history.
“Ironman has a unique way of creating your best and your worst day in one,” said Frodeno, draped in championship leis. “I can’t remember when I last suffered so much.”
Frodeno’s dichotomous day, which lasted exactly 8 hours, 6 minutes and 30 seconds, was characterized by some friendly and some not so friendly competition.
It began with a bit of harassment from Great Britain’s Harry Wiltshire, who finished in 115th place overall and 107th among male competitors, more than an hour behind Frodeno.
“I got hassled pretty bad by (Wiltshire), who’s actually pretty famous for it,” Frodeno said. “He was intentionally swimming on top of me. I swam away from him and he swam right back on top of me again, disturbing my stroke, unsportsmanlike and just being a (expletive).”
Frodeno said the cycling portion of the race, which follows the swim, was his weakest leg as he simply couldn’t find the energy to mount a surge for most of the 112-mile bike course.
Yet he was able to summon what he needed from some unknown, internal well of grit to keep pace with his rival and fellow countryman, 32-year-old Sebastian Kienle, who held a 7-second advantage over Frodeno as the two began the marathon to close the race.
“The rivalry is definitely there, and it’s always been there, it’s just always that he’s either smashed me or I’ve smashed him,” Frodeno said of the only other man to hold the title of Ironman World Champion in the last three years. “It’s never been head-to-head, we’ve never run shoulder-to-shoulder for 20 kilometers or whatever it was.
“Just duking it out and it was cool, and it’s fun to have a long-term rival that you actually get along with.”
Kienle, the 2014 champion, said he did all he could to keep the pressure on Frodeno, as the two started out the marathon at a frenetic and — as both men later described it — unsustainable pace. But with a few miles left to run, Kienle said he knew his chances for victory were over.
“When you race against Jan, second is always in the books,” he explained. “Even a very strong athlete like Jan could pop at the very end, but it gets harder and harder to believe. But you still have to go hard because another guy is chasing from behind.”
That other guy was yet a third German, Ironman World Championship rookie Patrick Lange. Kienle said he’s been watching Lange in his rearview mirror in myriad races for upwards of 15 years, but was still a little shocked the 30-year-old finished on the podium.
More than that, Kienle was surprised at how his younger German counterpart raced his way into the top three — by moving from 23rd place to 3rd place over the course of the run.
Breaking Mark Allen’s 26-year-old mark in the marathon, as Lange did by running 26.2 miles in the blistering time of 2 hours, 39 minutes and 45 seconds, will tend to aid such a surge, Kienle said.
Allen is a six-time Ironman World Champion.
“It felt unreal. I was going into the race with the hope of finishing in the top 15,” Lange said. “I never expected to be third here. I can’t believe it that I took that record from this really, really great guy.”
By claiming the record, Lange completed the third leg of a German sweep of the podium — a feat that hadn’t been accomplished by any country since the Germans last did it in 1997.
Germany also claimed fifth place in the race, as Andi Boecherer edged out American Tim O’Donnell by just under 3 minutes to secure the last spot in the top five.
Frodeno tried to explain the phenomenon.
“The science of coaching (in Germany) is a little bit ahead of the game,” he said, touting the competitive nature of the sport in his home country as compared to the United States. “The competition is just massive, and (Kienle) and myself, we’ve won the last three world championships between the two of us. If you’re trying to find a sponsor, you better put your heels up.”
Kienle agreed, saying simply that previous success breeds future success in the form of more media coverage, which leads to more sponsorships, more development programs and allows athletes to view triathlon as a viable career option.
He added, however, that he believes the U.S. in particular is coming, so Kienle wants to make the most of his opportunities now. The only problem — Frodeno keeps getting in the way.
When asked if he’d be standing atop the podium next year with champagne in hand, Kienle responded with the wit for which he’s become known.
“Ask me something easier,” he said dryly. “I will definitely give everything for it, man.”
Running away from the competition
While Frodeno took the time to cherish his second consecutive Ironman World Championship title, Daniela Ryf of Switzerland assumed another approach.
Ryf, who also won her second consecutive Ironman title in a time of 8 hours, 46 minutes and 46 seconds, couldn’t wait to cross the finish line.
Ryf literally leaped through the tape, and landed with a new course record.
Ryf’s time shattered the previous mark by 5 minutes and 28 seconds, which was set in 2013 by this year’s runner-up and three-time World Champion, Australia’s Miranda Carfrae.
Ryf, who placed 32nd among all competitors, obliterated the female field, finishing 23 minutes and 44 seconds ahead of Carfrae.
“Oh my God! I think that was my best race ever,” a jubilant Ryf proclaimed at the finish line. “I actually doubted the whole week if I was strong enough on the bike, and now I’m catching the (course) record!”
Later, at the post-race press conference, Ryf said the depth of her accomplishments had yet to set in, but she invoked the names of the greats who held the record before her — Carfrae, Chrissie Wellington and Paula Newby-Fraser — with genuine respect and admiration.
Carfrae, who sat next to Ryf throughout the conference, decried the lack of split announcements throughout the race, saying Ironman failed in that regard. And she wasn’t the only athlete to mention it after the race.
But Carfrae conceded she was glad she wasn’t aware in the moment of just how wide of a lead Ryf had built.
Carfrae, along with the rest of the top five finishers who crossed the line behind Ryf, agreed with the press conference moderator.
Ryf’s performance was “a race for the ages.”