Sebastian Kienle spread his arms, took the well-deserved lap of honor with the German flag and enjoyed the moments in the arms of his wife and young son. Overwhelmed by the emotions, the satisfied smile at his personal best time in the Mecca of triathlon gave way to tears of emotion.
“Emotional explosion. You can’t say much more than that,” said Kienle at the Kailua-Kona finish. “I owe him a lot, so I’m very happy for him,” said friend Jan Frodeno, who was unable to compete due to injury, on ZDF.
Although Kienle lacked the traditional headdress as in his Ironman World Championship title in 2014, the 38-year-old was able to feel like the world champion of hearts. Best German in sixth place in a field of 50 professionals peppered with world-class athletes.
Time penalties cause discussions
Patrick Lange, the 2017 and 2018 champion, was tenth, slowed down by a five-minute penalty on the bike. Florian Angert finished twelfth, he too had received a time penalty, apparently for slipstreaming.
The fact that the yellow penalty boxes also hit German medal candidates in the men’s race caused a lot of discussion after Laura Philipp got hit with the professional women on Thursday. Whether Lange would have had a chance of winning remains pure speculation. “I’m incredibly proud of myself that I pulled through after a time penalty that was questionable for me,” he emphasized.
Gustav Iden with course record
In the fastest race in Hawaiian history, Lange also stayed under eight hours, but the 36-year-old from Bad Wildungen was almost 18 minutes behind the victorious Gustav Iden. The 26-year-old Norwegian took the lead with around seven kilometers to go. His highly favored compatriot Kristian Blummenfelt, the Tokyo Olympic champion. ITU World Champion and Ironman Champion from May in St. George as well as Iden had traveled to his Hawaii premiere, he had previously almost left standing.
Iden not only ended the German title series in Hawaii after the successes of Kienle (2014), Frodeno (2015, 2016 and 2019) and Lange (2017 and 2018). In 7:40:24 hours he smashed the course record from Frodeno (7:51:13) three years ago by more than ten minutes in front of the French surprise second Sam Laidlow and Blummenfelt. “It was so hard,” said Iden. “In the last ten kilometers I was concerned that the island would kill me.”
Three rookies on the podium
Iden, Laidlow (23) and Blummenfelt (28) were all three making their Hawaii debuts – a rookie podium and a generational podium. Next year, at the end of his career, Frodeno wants to try to restore the old order.
Kienle will only look at it. He competed in Hawaii for the first time in 2012, finished third in 2013 and won the year after. In 2016 he only had to admit defeat to Frodeno, in 2019 he came third again. “Sometimes you have to judge your own performance independently of the placement and I have to say: It’s very high there,” he said of his last race in Hawaii. Because once again the year did not go smoothly. After the World Championships in May in St. George, which took place as a catch-up race for the 2021 World Championships in Hawaii, which were also canceled due to the corona pandemic, a corona infection slowed Kienle down.
Kienle “a real legend of our sport”
Many Kienle had wished that everything would go like this again at his last appearance in Hawaii. Many had hoped that after an even weaker swim this time, he would again show his strength on the bike over the 180.2 kilometers with rank 46 of the 50 starters. And Kienle also pulled through at the marathon. “A real legend of our sport,” commented the association of professional triathletes via Instagram. “Such a champion,” wrote five-time Ironman World Champion Daniela Ryf from Switzerland.
Kienle, who not only made a name for himself with his sporting successes but also as an opinionated athlete, had already announced his departure at the end of the coming year in November 2021. 2023 should be his farewell year with races that he particularly likes or still wants to do. Which one is not yet known.
At least it’s not Hawaii anymore. There he wanted one thing above all on Saturday evening: Enjoy. “In order to be able to enjoy, you have to fight beforehand,” emphasized Kienle. And he had done that at temperatures well above 30 degrees and extreme humidity. He didn’t know how much longer he would be able to keep himself on his feet. But he also had a plan B thanks to his own experience: “We’ve had good parties lying down.”
