Yes and? – some may say. On the one hand, according to the triathlon magazine, the professionals should be contractually obliged to participate, on the other hand, the date plays a not insignificant role: because exactly one week before the Ironman 70.3 World Cup is scheduled in Taupō, New Zealand. Same distance, just a different label. Whether both races take place at all in view of the corona pandemic is one thing, but the starting point can certainly be understood as a provocation.
In addition, the so-called age group athletes, in particular, are currently not all particularly good to speak of Ironman. In contrast to the long-distance cult event, the Challenge in Roth, Ironman applicants will not receive their fees for the time being, but will only be offered racing alternatives. It is about entry fees of over 500 euros.
QUALIFICATION: This also applies to the professionals. Even defending champion Frodeno must have brought at least one Ironman to the finish. His “Tri @ home”, which the 38-year-old recently completed in his own four walls in Girona, Spain, does not count. But where should the Frodenos and Anne Haugs start? There are currently no races in sight, everything has been canceled and / or postponed.
INEQUAL OPPORTUNITIES: The measures in the fight against the Sars-CoV-2 virus differ worldwide. And that also leads to different training conditions. World champion Anne Haug therefore sees the inequality of opportunity as “a big problem”. Within Germany alone, there was already no equal opportunity in terms of access to swimming pools or weight rooms, said the 37-year-old to the German Press Agency.
2014 world champion Sebastian Kienle, for example, was particularly badly hit during his training camp on Fuerteventura a few weeks ago: he wasn’t even allowed to use the pool in the sports resort, bike tours across the island – unthinkable. A curfew was issued in Spain during his stay.
SHIFT: February 2021 is considered a possible replacement date for the Ironman World Cup 2020. Frodeno is not a friend of it. “I don’t think it’s really good to have a World Cup twice in a year,” said the three-time world champion of the dpa. “At some point it makes it a bit silly to have a February world champion and an October world champion.” Because the race, which traditionally takes place in October, would naturally also increase. Frodeno: “I think that if a World Cup cannot take place in October, it should simply be suspended.”
Preparing for a race under the climatic conditions in Hawaii early in the new year would also be a problem. “Preparing for a heat race in the cold European winter is almost impossible,” said Lange. “In this respect, the question for all participants will be how to prepare the body for the tropical conditions in Hawaii in the best possible climatic way.” Training plans would have to be changed and, above all, adjusted so that déjà vu in the South Pacific only occurred eight months later.
–
