In 2019, at the last Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, Kienle fought his way onto the podium as a strong third. After that, the corona pandemic also took hold of triathlon sport: the 2020 World Championships were canceled without replacement, the 2021 edition will now be made up for in Utah. The most important competition in the industry is not scheduled to return to Hawaii until October. When the starting signal for the men’s professional race sounds next Saturday at 6.15 a.m. local time (2.20 p.m. CEST in the sports show live stream), 938 days will have passed without a world championship.
Kienle relies on the feel-good factor in St. George
At the Ironman in Utah, which Kienle already believes in the history books due to the uniqueness of the event, the athlete also relies on the feel-good factor. “I know the course very well, although I’ve never done a long distance at St. George. I really like the area – the atmosphere will be a very worthy setting for a World Cup.” And for one that will hardly be comparable to the previous events in Hawaii.
The mere fact that a season highlight takes place in May and not only in summer or in October was a “challenge” for Kienle in terms of preparation, training and load control. For the first time in the history of the Ironman World Championships, wetsuits will be allowed on the swim course, which this time leads through a lake rather than open Pacific waters. With a water temperature of around 15 degrees and an outside temperature of just under ten degrees Celsius, this is more than understandable.
Ironman in St. George: sunrise after the starting gun
Only when the pros have passed the turning buoy and completed half of the swim (a total of 3.8 kilometers) will the sun begin to rise. This means that the cold will still be an issue on the first few kilometers of cycling. But Kienle is then at least in his sporting comfort zone: he will tackle the 180-kilometer route as a cycling specialist for many years.
And then? Then comes the final marathon, peppered with a whopping 500 meters in altitude, in which Kienle wants to be one of those professionals who “Mine the least. At a certain point you have to run the race with your heart, not your head. And fight with everything you’ve got.” His experience of almost two decades of triathlon should help him, but could also be a “double-edged sword”: “Knowing what’s coming at the Ironman can also slow you down. Patience will be an important factor.”
Frodeno and Lange are injured in Utah
In the absence of the injured world champions Jan Frodeno (Achilles tendon) and Patrick Lange (joint shoulder), Kienle is the most prominent German starter, alongside him Florian Angert (Weinheim), Boris Stein (Eitelborn) and Andreas Dreitz (Lichtenfels) are hoping for good to very good placements. Since 2014 there has always been a German Ironman World Champion in Kienle, Frodeno and Lange. But also this time the international competition is strongly represented by David McNamee from Great Britain, the current European champion Patrik Nilsson from Sweden or the Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt. His compatriot Gustav Iden was recently suffering from an infection – but still hopes to be able to stand healthy at the starting line on race day.
Sebastian Kienle, who would make a good writer in addition to his main job as a professional triathlete, is meanwhile ready for one of the last chapters of his active career. “When I announced the end of my career, I said: I want to win another World Cup. Maybe I should have said: I want to try to win one. But I’m not completely without a chance – not even in the fight for victory.” His story, it’s obviously not really over yet.