What remains of the morning after a day that was supposed to be a celebration of the sport of triathlon, but which ended tragically and in the worst possible way? Mainly dismay and sympathy. In addition, however, there was also a discussion, more precisely one must say: the intensification of a discussion. Above all, it is about the issue of safety.
In any case, the sporting results of the professional and age group athletes at the Ironman Hamburg were already irrelevant yesterday. The fact that Frenchman Denis Chevrot won and Jan Frodeno finished fourth in his long-distance comeback after a long injury break and showed an unusual weakness at the end of the run – all of that disappeared on this black day for the triathlon, which was due to a serious accident on the bike course person died and another was seriously injured. “Thoughts should be with the dead man’s family,” Frodeno told WELT on Monday. And Florian Angert, World Cup fifth and Hamburg starter, wrote Sunday evening on Instagram: “Now it’s not about triathlon. My thoughts are with the families and the people affected.”
Angert then looks ahead briefly, continuing: “I have never seen anything worse. We need a change for safer racing.” It is the debate that is now picking up speed.
Frodeno: “We are all part of the problem”
Frodeno did not comment on the accident in Hamburg on Monday, he says: “The official bodies such as the police, organizers and the emergency team have to work through the course of events properly. I, and no outsiders, are entitled to that.” Like Angert, the 41-year-old top star looks ahead to what needs to change. “Regardless of this accident, we all have to think together – media, organizers, sponsors, professional and amateur athletes, but also the fans – how to make triathlon fair in the future, but also safe for everyone involved. We are all part of the problem,” he says. “We will be actively involved here. But don’t do it in public. And with such major events, there is unfortunately always a residual risk.”
Jan Frodeno finishes the Ironman Hamburg in fourth place
Quelle: Getty Images for Ironman/Alexander Koerner
The accident on the closed bike course happened 2:25 hours after the start on a straight road parallel to a dike in the Ochsenwerder district. In Hamburg, the 180-kilometer route consists of one lap that has to be driven twice. However, it is not a classic round, but consists largely of a route that the participants have to ride in opposite directions. This is not uncommon in triathlon races, but in the run-up to this event – as sometimes elsewhere – there was criticism of the sometimes narrow route with oncoming traffic. Because there is always a lot going on on the route: professionals and age group athletes alike, plus accompanying motorcycles for the judges, who check the slipstream rule, and for the photographers and cameramen of the organizer and the media authorized by him.
Now livestreaming at ironman.com on Sunday showed the rider of a support bike – with a photographer on his machine – passed other bikes and then collided with an oncoming rider. The route was completely visible at this point. “Backgrounds of the collision – whether it was medically necessary for the motorcyclist – are purely speculative,” said the operations manager of the ARD “Sportschau”. “It’s almost impossible to explain whether there was any evasive behavior because it’s a straight stretch.”
According to the police, the 70-year-old motorcyclist died at the scene of the accident, and the athlete, a 26-year-old amateur athlete from Great Britain, was seriously injured. The cameraman (50) on the motorcycle suffered a shock and, like the triathlete, was taken to a hospital. Frodeno, who had seen the seconds after the collision, was later annoyed about his first, quick interview right at the finish line after he had just arrived exhausted and then heard about the death. About describing the seconds after the accident. “It wasn’t appropriate,” he says.
40 fewer motorcycles in Roth
Already during the race on social media and then afterwards, allegations were leveled against the organizer regarding the crowding of people on the track, especially that there were too many bikes for the conditions. Second point of criticism: the continuation of the race. The viewer comments on the subject of demolition were more complex, for example in a report by the radio station 90.3. And the matter is indeed complex. On both subjects.
The President of the German Triathlon Union protects the organizers in Hamburg when it comes to routing and density on the route. “It can happen in any competition. That can happen to us too. There are other competitions where there have also been fatalities, in the triathlon,” said Martin Engelhardt on Deutschlandfunk. Triathlon professional Timo Schaffeld sounds completely different: “Unfortunately, the bike course was very full. It was therefore foreseeable that there could be accidents.”
The fact that safety has not only been an issue since yesterday is shown, among other things, by the decision of those responsible for Challenge Roth. They had been working on a safer traffic concept before the fatal accident in Hamburg: no out-and-back routes with oncoming traffic, roads that were always wide and more. There is no question that this is the wish of every event, the feasibility and approvals are sometimes something else. At the event on June 25th in Roth, and this has been a fact for a long time, no external media representatives will be allowed on motorcycles on the bike course. Felix Walchshöfer told Bayerischer Rundfunk that there were 40 fewer motorcycles.
“Months ago, in cooperation with top athletes and representatives of the press, we decided to have significantly fewer motorcycles on the racetrack.” Photographers would now be driven to the track from outside. “So that the slipstream problem is no longer the focus, but of course also because of safety,” said Walchshöfer. The slipstream problem means: In middle and long-distance triathlon races, there is a slipstream ban for all participants. This is undermined by many motorcycles on the track. So fairness is one aspect, security the other.
However, there can never be 100% certainty, and it is also clear: where a sport grows, where there are stars, there is great interest, there pictures want and should be created and released into the world. The “how” is the question. “I know that it has to be accompanied by the media,” says Frodeno, “but the athletes’ safety and that of the volunteers must be the priority.” There are several levers for this: no narrow routes with oncoming traffic, fewer participants, especially in sometimes difficult conditions, fewer motorcycles – just to name a few.
Also understanding of the continuation of the race
The team in Hamburg decided that the race was not canceled on Sunday, said Engelhardt, and not the World Triathlon Corporation based in Tampa (Florida). He tries to explain that the decision had something to do with the “overall responsibility” of the organizers, also with regard to the safety situation of the overall competition. “Of course they were shocked too, but they thought about what the right course of action is now. There were over 2000 people on the route. If they had stopped the entire race, it would have been relatively unpredictable, according to statements by the main organizers,” said Engelhardt: “That’s why, despite all the dismay, including among the people affected, the decision was made to continue the race – with all due respect the tragic accident.”
Ex-professional cyclist and hobby triathlete Maximilian Levy said something similar in “Bild”: “How are you supposed to explain to thousands of people with even more motorcycles that the race is over? How can that be done without causing even more chaos? I’m not saying it was right to continue, but I also see the position of the organizer who wants to prevent chaos.” Others also bring to the table the years, time, passion and money of the umpteen amateur athletes. Still others simply regard non-abortion as completely irreverent.
Hamburg checks security concept
What should remain as the most important aspect is the security debate. As a work-up in Hamburg and for triathlon in general. The city of Hamburg definitely wants to review the safety concept again before the next major triathlon event in July. Then, from July 13th to 16th, the world championships over the sprint distance and the Olympic distance will take place.
After the accident, “there was criticism from high-profile triathletes. They can classify that. And you have to take that seriously,” said Hamburg State Councilor for Sport Christoph Holstein (SPD) on Monday of the German Press Agency. Therefore, this criticism will also flow into the consultations before the World Cup and in general before the next major sporting events in the city.
Holstein would first like to wait for the result of the police investigations before a precise assessment of the causes of the accident and its possible consequences can be made. “We first have to know whether the accident could have been prevented with a different safety concept or whether it was the result of individual misconduct,” he said.
