When the men’s Ironman World Championships take place in Hawaii on Saturday, age group athletes will also be competing alongside the professionals. For many, a lifelong dream is coming true – for the German Thomas Greczmiel after more than three decades. His daughter is following an example.
You can see and hear his anticipation and nervousness. Thomas Greczmiel’s eyes sparkle, the corners of his mouth turn up and stay there, his voice becomes a little faster. The Berliner is 63 years old and it has been more than 35 years since a dream stuck in his head. At first it was a utopia, a wish in distant galaxies, at some point a lifelong dream, and finally a concrete goal.
Now he has arrived: in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island, the island of longing for many triathletes, where long-distance triathlon has its origins. A place that anyone can travel to. And where, traditionally on a Saturday in October, everyone can stand on the pier at dawn and listen to the American anthem and then the anthem of the state of Hawaii. But only a few are allowed to go on the 3.86 kilometer long swimming route as a prelude to an adventure.
On Saturday, October 26th, Thomas Greczmiel will be one of the 2,400 age group athletes from 85 nations, including 261 from Germany, who will join the professionals around two-time Hawaii champion Patrick Lange on the journey. First the swim, then 180 kilometers on the bike through the lava fields and finally a marathon in heat and high humidity. What would be a nightmare for many is, for Greczmiel and others, a lifelong dream for which they, as non-professionals, have usually fought for a long time alongside their job and family – in Greczmiel’s case it has been 23 years since his first long distance. “It means so much to me to be there,” says Greczmiel, who also wrote down his journey in a book. “For me, Ironman is a way of life and the constant in my life. I’m proud of that.” A sport as a lifestyle, as a balance; a dream as the ultimate incentive to never give up.
Balancing and stress regulation
Greczmiel was actually a rower. In his youth and as a young adult he played it as a competitive sport, competed for the national team and dreamed of competing in the Olympics. “It wasn’t that far away, but in the end it wasn’t enough,” he says. In 1985 he stopped, started running to keep fit while studying and completed his first triathlon in 1990. Since then, he has not only completed his chemistry studies, received his doctorate and worked in the pharmaceutical industry until the end of last year, but has also developed his passion for triathlon and never lost it.
He quickly became fond of the longer distances, and today he has completed 30 marathons, 20 middle-distance triathlons and 14 long-distance races. Sport now also plays a role in his career: Four years ago, Greczmiel began to acquire various qualifications in the field of fitness trainer, and now he is self-employed. Making a dream a goal and pursuing it – that’s something his time in rowing taught him.
“I’m not the fastest at triathlon, but I know I want to do what I set out to do. And in this sport I have it in my own hands. If I train well, it will usually pay off. At work, for example, it’s different,” he says. “But I also like the community in our club, in this sport in general. Everyone who finishes is a winner.” Which doesn’t mean that he wasn’t immensely pleased with his fourth place in a 70.3 race (middle distance) in Denmark in 2021 and thus qualification for the 70.3 World Championships in St. George/Utah.
But that’s not everything. For him, sport was always a balance to his job. “Just turn off your head,” says Greczmiel. Do you want to go for a run after dinner on a business trip? For him, not stress, but stress regulation, also an outlet. However, anyone who has such a time-consuming hobby needs the understanding and support of their family. “I had a deal with my ex-wife,” says the 63-year-old: “One year of triathlon, one year of other vacations. That worked.”
Triathlon also as a family affair
He has infected two of his three children with his passion for sports, and one of his favorite photos shows them taking part in a long-distance relay: he swam himself, Laura, 27, rode a bike and Julia, 32, ran the marathon. “A great experience!” he enthuses. Daughter Laura has imbibed the passion for this sport the most and recently made her long-distance debut at the Ironman Barcelona – and Greczmiel stood excitedly on the track. “My son Guido also does sports,” he says, “but he has other priorities and travels a lot. The main thing is that he is happy!”
Last year they were all in Hawaii together: Greczmiel, his three children plus his partner and grandchildren. Sport creates experiences. But things were actually planned differently, because he was supposed to start at the Ironman World Championships in 2022. By the way, he had this dream even before he even completed his first triathlon. He was impressed by a TV report at the end of the 80s, as well as the iconic images of the exhausted but tough Julie Moss, who crawled to the finish line.
He found all of this impressive, but initially dismissed a long distance as “unthinkable” and, after the first shorter triathlon, a start in Hawaii as a utopia. Things changed.
Nice instead of Hawaii? That wasn’t my life’s dream
The Hawaii qualification is tough; worldwide there are very few slots for the best in Ironman races in the age groups. Greczmiel wanted to make it, but like most, he failed. He finally saw his opportunity in the Legcay program, which had existed since 2012. It rewards those who stick with it for a long time and never give up. Anyone who has never started in Hawaii and has completed at least twelve Ironman races can register and be put on a waiting list. A small number of Legacy athletes are admitted each year – so far there have only been around 420 athletes who have competed in Hawaii through the program since 2012.
However, it is not entirely undisputed. Some people see this as primarily customer loyalty, which cannot be denied, but is a clever move; one or two top age group athletes turn up their noses slightly. This doesn’t affect Greczmiel. 34 years of triathlon alongside family and job, 14 long distances, no end in sight. “I am glad that Ironman offers this opportunity and gives athletes the chance who have dedicated a large part of their lives to the sport of triathlon at a relatively high level,” he says.
In 2020, when he was supposed to start in Kailua-Kona for the first time, and in 2021 the World Cup was canceled due to the pandemic, Greczmiel was allowed to choose between 2022 and 2023, chose 2023 and booked a house for himself and the family a year in advance. Shortly afterwards, Ironman surprisingly announced that the World Championships would be separated in time and location by gender, so that the women would compete in Hawaii in 2023 and the men in Nice.
A shock. Anyone who had already secured their Hawaii slot at this point was allowed to choose. Nice was out of the question for the Berliner; after all, his lifelong dream was Hawaii. But since the house couldn’t be canceled and it was unlikely that they would be able to get all the children together again, they went on the trip anyway – as a family vacation. “Unforgettable,” says the 63-year-old. “It’s not natural to do something like that with adult children.”
This time he still has company: his daughter Laura is there to support him. Next year, father and daughter will swap roles, as the 27-year-old surprisingly qualified directly for the 2025 Women’s World Cup in Hawaii on her debut three weeks ago.
*Transmission: The race starts at 6:25 a.m. local time/6:25 p.m. CET and will be shown on ZDF’s live stream from 6:15 p.m. and in the main program from 12:30 a.m. Ironman broadcasts on its own website.
