Is Jan Frodeno out of the Ironman World Championship in St. George?
Will the three-time Kona champion be in St. George, Utah to defend his title?
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
The rumours have been circulating for a while now, and today Triathlete Magazine columnist Brad Culp did the equivalent of throwing gasoline on a camp fire when he announced on Twitter that three-time Kona champion Jan Frodeno would not be racing at the Ironman World Championship in St. George.
BREAKING: Still-reigning Ironman world champ Jan Frodeno will not compete in St. George next month.
— Brad Culp (@bbculp) April 13, 2022
Followers of Frodeno’s Instagram feed have been wondering whether the German Olympic champion was really gearing up for a defence of his 2019 Ironman title in St. George based on many of his posts over the last few months. While his competitors have been posting epic training sessions and racing in preparation for the worlds in early May, Frodeno has been posting lots of skiing photos, and even posted about this crazy day of skiing less than two weeks ago:
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Even when he did post about training at altitude, Frodeno said that he was using that as preparation for “the season,” not the upcoming Ironman World Championship.
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All of this is speculation, of course, and Frodeno’s posts have certainly implied that he’s been working hard, too. (The first comment on this post about a “hard training block” came from Ben Hoffman – “How big a block, exactly?” the 2014 Kona runner-up asked.)
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So, is Frodeno working hard for two world championship appearances in 2022, or just one?
Frodeno will turn 41 this year, which has led to some speculation that he’s going to skip St. George and go after one more Kona title this October. Culp also alluded to this today via Twitter:
Think this was coming for some time. Trying to peak for this would just ruin any chance he has of one last win in Hawaii.
— Brad Culp (@bbculp) April 13, 2022
In 2019, after he had just won his third Ironman title and set a new Kona course record of 7:51:13, I truly expected that Frodeno would retire. He shot that thought down during an interview right after the press conference, though. Retirement wasn’t even in the cards, he told me. COVID took out the 2020 season, but last year he beat a strong field at Challenge Gran Canaria, set a new world-best time at the Tri-Battle Royale and won the Collins Cup. I get why he didn’t want to retire.
Now we’ll just have to wait and see if we get any official news on whether or not we’ll see Frodeno take on the St. George course next month.
