This is how Jan Frodeno’s working day came to an end this time, at the Challenge triathlon in Roth, Franconia: next to a remote master carpenter’s workshop, in the shade of which a few older spectators made themselves comfortable with isotonic drinks. One of them quickly found its way to Frodeno, but the 40-year-old had little time for such refreshments at first.
He was lying on his back, face in his hands, his physiotherapist massaging his sore Achilles tendon, the manager and a few other onlookers standing by, expressions depressed. The patient’s first analysis after processing the first tears: “Unfortunately, I fucked it up.” In adult translation: I’ve had better days in my sporting life.
There is hardly a triathlete who has shaped the scene in recent decades like Jan Frodeno. In 2008 he became Olympic champion in the short distance, at a time when he pushed his optimization mania so far that at some point he heard the whistle between his ribs. Frodeno soon lived out his perfectionism on the long haul, this puzzle with thousands of pieces that you never quite put together: he triumphed three times in the legendary Hawaii triathlon, and he still holds the world best time in the 3.8 kilometers of swimming and 180 kilometers of cycling and 42.195 kilometers running (7:27:53 hours). An athlete who has long since become a brand, with its own line of sporting goods, espresso blends and a team the size of a small, medium-sized company.
But none of that protects you from the question that eventually catches up with the grandmasters: What if the head wants, but the body just doesn’t really do it anymore?
It’s getting tight with the endeavor to join in the rows with the boys in Hawaii
In the spring, Frodeno suffered a partial tear in his Achilles tendon, he lost three months, and commercial running training was hardly possible until the end. He skipped the World Championship of the Ironman brand, which had been moved from Hawaii to Utah in May because of the pandemic – he wanted to be in top form again in Kona in the fall when the long-distance race was to take place there regularly. Roth, where he was faster in 2016 than anyone else on the long haul (7:35:39), he wanted to take with him. Even though Frodeno knew about his fragile running form: “It’s a very strange situation,” he said before the competition, “I just have to put my perfectionism aside.”
The problem became apparent on Sunday: Frodeno’s competitive spirit and half perfectionism are only compatible to a limited extent. Two weeks before Roth, he had tested in the new carbon shoes to see if the tendon was ready to race, despite the bad weather – and promptly injured himself again. A fully-fledged triathlon was now unthinkable; it didn’t help that Frodeno swam the fastest on Sunday and rode his bike better than ever.
There are good and bad days for tendon disorders, and on Sunday, Frodeno admitted, he had a bad one. “It’s such a brutal back and forth in the head,” he said on the BR microphone with a tear-choked voice. For the time being, he had to cling to higher-level things: for example, that the spectators on the Solarer Berg were allowed back in full for the first time since Corona and kindled the usual noise worthy of the Tour de France. Perhaps, said Frodeno, that was a sign “that the most difficult phase of the pandemic is behind us”.
The rest of the script was written by the others on Sunday, especially Magnus Ditlev: a 24-year-old Dane who performed so calculated on his second long distance that he looked ten years older. He even almost grabbed Frodeno’s course record, in 7:35:48 – a fabulous time, even considering that the athletes swam without streamlined wetsuits on Sunday because of the warm temperatures. Patrick Lange, the two-time Hawaii champion, had to console himself with a 7:44:52 and second place, four months after a fall and shoulder surgery.
Anne Haug made sure that it was enough for a German victory (8:22:42), despite a weaker swimming performance and after being stung by a bee while cycling. (“I kept telling myself I wasn’t allergic. That helped.”) Haug had recently finished third in Utah; On Kona, where she triumphed in 2019, the stress test of the year is just ahead of her: with compatriot Laura Philipp, who recently won in Hamburg in 8:18:20 hours.
On course for victory: Anne Haug in front of the spectators in Roth, who were once again admitted without restrictions this year.
(Photo: Oliver Gold/Sportfoto Zink/Imago)
And Frodeno? It’s getting tight with the endeavor to join the pranks in Hawaii with the boys, at least next October. And above all with Kristian Blummenfelt, who clears away the main prizes so routinely that even observers who are used to record records are left speechless: Tokyo Olympic victory, World Championships in Utah, a long-distance project with pacemakers in an unreal 6:44:25 hours. Big mouth, a lot behind it, that’s how the Norwegian ticks – a trait that Frodeno likes, even if he’s a long way from it. He will first see the orthopedist on Monday, he said, “see that things work out in the long term”. Before he added, more combative: “I’m in the autumn of my career, but definitely not in winter.”