“I emptied it all today,” was Sebastian Kienle’s verdict after his ninth and final appearance in Hawaii saw him finish in sixth with his fastest-ever time on the Big Island.
Having announced he'll retire at the end of next year, the 38-year-old was satisfied that he’d achieved everything he could in Kona after victory in 2014, finishing second in 2016 and third twice (2013 & 2019).
“I’m going to do one more year without the race here,” he said. “I think it was a really good race for me but it shows how deep the field is and the huge talent that is coming up.
“It’s time to hand over to the next generation. I’ve no regrets and I’m happy with my career and will enjoy this last year as much as I can.”
Kienle singled out 6ft 5in Dane Magnus Ditlev to play a leading role in the future of the sport and was effusive in his praise of the 24-year-old Challenge Roth winner, who finished eighth here.
“I was in Roth and witnessed his race, which was mind blowing – one of the best performances I’ve ever seen,” Kienle added. “He’s so cold blooded. He’s so young, so talented and has such crazy power.
“If I would have had this power I’d have blown myself up completely and destroyed everyone else and myself before the finish.
“This dude is definitely one of the guys we’ll have a lot of fun with in the years to come.”
Further records to fall?
As for his own performance, a 52:47 swim, 4:09:10 bike leg – just seconds outside Cameron Wurf's old bike course record – and a 2:48:44 marathon made him one of a record-breaking 10 men to finish in under 8hrs. It included overtaking Ditlev towards the end of the marathon.
“I told myself there’s no next year and for him [Ditlev] there are a lot of years to come, so I reeled him back in," Kienle added.
“With [Joe] Skipper there was no chance, he was just absolutely blasting past me. I think had it been a 60km marathon he would have won!”
As for Gustav Iden smashing Jan Frodeno’s course record mark by 11min and lowering it to 7:40:24: “It was exactly what I expected. The sport is still really young compared to the marathon where we still see crazy new records,” he said.
“It’s natural that we’ll see records broken. We are developing everything and this is the first generation of triathletes that started as triathletes.”
Kienle had stated in the pre-race press conference that his goal was to make the post-race press conference. The ritual is normally reserved for just the top five, but Ironman added a nice touch by including a sixth seat.
Finally, asked how he’d like to be remembered for his time racing in Hawaii, he replied: “That I respected the island.”
Top image credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for Ironman
