World’s fastest to go head-to-head at Ironman European Championships

The Ironman European Championships in Frankfurt on 8 July is set to be a showdown between the two fastest Ironmen of all time: Germany’s Andreas Raelert and Belgium’s Marino Vanhoenacker.



Vanhoenacker set the Iron distance world record of 7:48:58 at Ironman Austria last year, when he recorded his sixth win at the event. But Raelert broke that record just a week later at Challenge Roth when he posted 7:41:33.



This makes the field for the event extremely strong as, in addition to Raelert and Vanhoenacker, Michael Raelert (twice 70.3 world champion), Ronnie Schildknecht, Faris Al-Sultan, Sebastien Kienle and Markus Fachbach have all confirmed that they will race.



“Marino and Andreas competing against each other is a dream come true for Ironman fans,” said Kai Walter, the World Triathlon Corporation’s Managing Director of International Operations in Europe. “To have the two fastest athletes in long-distance triathlon in the same race will be ana amazing thing to watch. Plus we have upcoming star Sebastien Kienle in Frankfurt, too. This wil be a race the triathlon world will follow very closely.”

Matt Baird Editor of Cycling Plus magazine

About

Matt is a regular contributor to 220 Triathlon, having joined the magazine in 2008. He’s raced everything from super-sprint to Ironman, duathlons and off-road triathlons, and can regularly be seen on the roads and trails around Bristol. Matt is the author of Triathlon! from Aurum Press and is now the editor of Cycling Plus magazine.