Rico Bogen takes Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Lionel Sanders DQd, Blummenfelt finishes 36th
The third time that Germany has swept the podium at an Ironman World Championship event
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Ironman
It was an all-German podium today for the men at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Lahti, Finland, as 22-year-old Rico Bogen became the youngest men’s champion in the event’s history. While many in North America won’t be familiar with Bogen’s name, he burst into the picture with a huge win earlier this year at Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau with a big win over Patrick Lange.
All of which is to say that we shouldn’t be surprised that the German could compete with the best in the world. With pre-race favourite Kristian Blummenfelt coming into the race dealing with “tummy issues” he’d been experiencing since his big win in Singapore last weekend, the stage was set for some new names to steal the show, and Bogen was happy to lead that charge.
Big group out of the water
German Olympian Justus Nieschlag led the men out of the water, with a group of six within 10 seconds that included Bogen and last year’s runner-up at this championship, Ben Kanute. Blummenfelt was 1:16 back after the swim, seemingly a sign that he was not in form and ready to compete for the win.
Once on the bike France’s Mathis Margirier powered to the front, keeping the pace up and preventing those who were back after the swim like Blummenfelt, Lionel Sanders, Sam Long and Jackson Laundry from getting into the picture – through 40 km Frederic Funk was pushing the pace at the front, Kanute was suddenly in no-man’s land about a minute behind, and a big chase group was over two minutes back.
Somewhere during the bike Sanders crossed the centre line and was DQd according to an Instagram post from his videographer and friend Talbot Cox.
Funk and Margirier continued to push the pace at the front and, by the end of the bike, only Bogen, fellow Germans Jan Stratmann and Nieschlag, along with Great Britain’s Joshua Lewis, were able to stay close. The German crew hit T2 between 21 and 26 seconds behind leader Funk, with Lewis at 38 seconds behind. Long was eighth off the bike, just under four minutes down, with Blummenfelt over 10 minutes back at the end of the ride.
Bogen makes his move
It was Margirier who moved to the front early in the run, but about 2 km into the half marathon Bogen made his move and started to pull away from the Frenchman. Through the halfway point of the run Bogen’s lead was up to 38 seconds on Margirier, with Funk hanging close at 58 seconds down, Stratmann at 1:26 and Lewis in fifth at 2:45 behind.
From then on there was no doubt that Bogen was on his way to the biggest win of his short career. Behind him, though, there was lots of action as Funk caught Margirier. The Frenchman couldn’t hang on to the podium as Stratmann surged by with a few kms to go, too.
An experience like no other: explaining a world championship in Finland
Which meant we would see an all-German podium – the third time that’s ever happened at an Ironman World Championship event before. (The last time? Kona in 2016 as Jan Frodeno, Sebastian Kienle and Patrick Lange were on the podium. The first time? 1997 with Thomas Hellreigel, Jurgen Zack and Lothar Leder.)
Bogen finished with a 1:11:02 run split to take the win in 3:32:22, setting a new championship record by breaking, yes, fellow German Michael Raelert’s 3:34:04 winning time from Clearwater in 2009. Funk would finish just over a minute later in 3:33:26, with Stratmann rounding out the podium in 3:34:11. Margirier (3:35:05) would take fourth, Lewis fifth (3:36:45).
Other notable finishers included: Sam Long, 12th, 3:39:10; Jackson Laundry, 27th, 3:46:39; Ben Kanute, 31st, 3:48:24; Kristian Blummenfelt, 36th, 3:53:40.
