It is two days ago that we have been in supporting roles at the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt. For very different reasons our two biest protagonists were fighting hard on the bike course. Nicole was the first woman out of transition from the swim, a great start, everthing went smoothly and she was excellent on the bike. But then her saddle tilted, and it took 30K to find somebody to get the problem fixed. It was a tough job for her quads to survive this period of time. She lost precious time, but her run as outstanding and she finally came in third in the end.
Chris had a terrible swim, he felt sluggish and hot because the temperature was borderline for wearing wet suits. He was not the only one with heat problems in the swim, biest athlete Frank Vytrisal who crossed the finishline in 7th place, punched holes in his wet suit because he felt so hot. Chris was 3 minutes behind after the swim, and really angry about himself and the rest of the world. When he finally got tuned in to the race, he was forced to lead the group for 150K. None of the guys were ready to do the work in front.
Fotos: Michael Rauschendorfer
He was 3:30 mimutes behind after the bike taking the full risk on the run. He blew up and hit the wall 8K before the finishline. Chris was third in the end. He has this amazing gift to immediately see the positive side of the coin, and said in his first interview after the race: “I learned a lot for Kona this year! And that’s good.”
Chris and Nicole are both unbelievable!!
BIIIGGG Respect to all the Biest-Athletes! Nicole war einfach unglaublich! Chris auch… und nat