Triathlon Ironman-70.3-WM in Lahti
A young German is sensationally crowned triathlon world champion
Status: 11:06 am | Reading time: 2 minutes
Scream of happiness: Rico Bogen is the new world champion
Source: dpa/Pepe Korteniemi
This Sunday marks the breakthrough of a young German triathlete: Completely surprising and in an impressive manner, 22-year-old Rico Bogen duped the world elite and won the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Lahti. Even more: It will be a German triple victory.
A few 100 meters before the finish, Rico Bogen spreads his arms, left and right the spectators stretch out their hands towards him. The 22-year-old from Leipzig smiles – happily, but also in disbelief – and runs the last few meters as the leader to the finish of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Lahti. After swimming 1.9 kilometers, cycling 90 kilometers and a half marathon, the sensation is complete. Bogen crosses the finish line after 3:32:22 hours, shakes his head and first has to support himself on his thighs. The birth of a new German triathlon champion.
And the German triumph in Finland continued. After Bogen, Frederic Funk (26) finished second in 3:33:16 hours, then Jan Stratmann (28) made the triple success perfect (3:34:11). “Incredible,” said Bogen just a few minutes later, “I would never have dreamed of that.” Leipzig is the first German 70.3 world champion since Jan Frodeno’s success in 2018.
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Bogen got off his bike, 15 seconds behind the leader, but then quickly took the lead and was 15 seconds ahead four kilometers into the half marathon. In the end, Bogen ran alone towards the triumph, while Stratmann only fought his way to third place at the end of the race. “I have no words for it,” said the 28-year-old overjoyed at the finish. A day of celebration for the German triathletes. And the breakthrough of the Rico bow.
During the winner’s interview, moderator Greg Welch, Hawaii champion in 1994, then appropriately stated: “You bear a bit of a resemblance to Jan Frodeno.” At least, Bogen replied, at 1.90 meters he was at least about the same height as the superstar of the scene ( 1.94m). “I hope,” said Bogen, “that he may have been watching.”
In May, Bogen celebrated his first professional victory
It was just three months ago that the man from Leipzig celebrated his first professional victory at the Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau, and now he is already crowned world champion. A coup that even experts had not counted on, despite his outstanding performance in Kraichgau, where he left Hawaii champion Patrick Lange behind, among others. He was too fresh on the professional scene for everyone to have him on the bill.
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And Kristian Blummenfelt? Norway’s triathlon star and defending champion had to pay tribute to his workload. The World Championships in Lahti was his third start in just two weeks. After ninth place at the Olympic test competition in Paris and victory two days later at the PTO Asian Open in Singapore, Finland lacked strength.
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