It’s a victory of satisfaction and a victory for his mom. Tears flow after a perfect race for him, but it begins with a painful encounter in the water.
After a show of force with a course record time, Patrick Lange was overcome with emotion. With a halting voice and tears in his eyes, the 38-year-old Hessian dedicated his third and probably most impressive victory at the Ironman World Championship on his personal triathlon island of longing to his mother, who died four years ago. “Everyone has doubted me over the years, and now being able to give this back to the team and my family means everything to me,” said Lange, deeply moved.
“When she was in the hospice and I saw her for the last time, she told me to give it my all again and win for her again. I’m really proud that I’ve achieved that for her,” emphasized Lange .
Ironman world champion Laura Philipp also congratulates
Lange delivered a splendid performance in one of the best professional World Cup fields. “Today I had the perfect day,” he said on ZDF at the finish in Kailua-Kona. His season had been anything but perfect until this race on the Big Island, which included a 3.86-kilometer swim, 180.2-kilometer bike ride and 42.2-kilometer run.
In Hawaii, where he is better than anywhere else, Lange dismantled the competition from defending champion Sam Laidlow to world best time holder Magnus Ditlev to Olympic champion and former champion Kristian Blummenfelt. In 7:35:53 hours he completed the route, faster than anyone before.
“Hello,” congratulated Laura Philipp, who was crowned Ironman World Champion for the first time in Nice about a month ago, via Instagram. “Hawaii is simply his place, he can surpass himself here every time,” said Jan Frodeno, who was also successful in Hawaii three times during his own illustrious career, as a TV expert. “It’s really crazy,” commented 2014 world champion Sebastian Kienle during the race on ZDF.
Long before his triumphant finish on the famous Ali’i Drive, Lange sent kisses to his distant homeland, where his wife cheered and cheered along. She couldn’t come along because of a corona infection; in 2018, during his second Hawaii victory after 2017, he proposed to her on his knees.
Long desperate search for vinegar
This time on the red carpet he enjoyed the frenetic applause of the spectators, he grabbed the finish line and shouted his joy. He jumped, he clenched his fists, beat his chest and put his finger to his mouth: a sign of satisfaction even to his doubters. “Don’t listen to the haters, just ignore them,” Lange explained in the press conference after the race, which began with a rather unpleasant and painful moment of shock: the encounter with a jellyfish.
“That was a good bite. Honestly, I didn’t know how to deal with it. I didn’t know if I was allergic or not. I just tried to block it out,” Lange said. “It hit me on both arms, on my face, on my feet,” he reported and also explained why he asked photographers if they had vinegar with them. “I was desperate,” he explained and, despite the pain, was able to laugh about it long after the race.
competition left behind
It was almost impossible to see the strain of the seven and a half hours of hard work beforehand, which gave him an impressive lead of almost eight minutes over the Dane Ditlev at the finish. The American Rudy von Berg (USA) came third with around ten minutes more than Lange.
With his title triple after the successes in 2017 and 2018, he drew level with Frodeno after his Hawaii triumphs. He won in 2015, 2016 and also in 2019 when Lange had to give up due to severe health problems. Overall, it was the eleventh German men’s victory in the triathlon Mecca.
Lange also crowned 15 fantastic German triathlon months – starting with a triple success last year at the World Championships over half the distance, the Olympic victory of the German mixed relay in Paris in the summer and the first Ironman world championship title for congratulator Philipp. He received $125,000 for his Hawaii victory and can hope for another windfall in the so-called Ironman Pro Series, which he leads after his Hawaii triumph.
Lange climbs out of the Pacific in fourth place
For his third title, Lange was able to rely primarily on his running strength again; he ran the marathon with an average of 3:42 minutes per kilometer. But this time everything went better than he could have hoped. Also in the duels with significantly younger athletes such as the 25-year-old French Nice world champion Laidlow or the 26-year-old Dane Ditlev. Lange, who had recently changed his coach, was already at the forefront in swimming and emerged from the Pacific in fourth place.
He was able to stay on the bike in a large chasing group behind Laidlow, who had to pay bitterly for his effort through the lava fields. As the first triathlete, he needed less than four hours to cover the 180 kilometers in Hawaii – but it was of no use to him. At the World Championships in France a year ago, he went from being 13 minutes ahead of Lange to the finish by four minutes.
The suffering of the dethroned champion and the slap from the new world champion
This time Laidlow collapsed completely. Meanwhile, he was already running out of the transition zone for a long time and took the lead for the first time after six hours of racing. With a slap on the backside and words of encouragement, he passed Laidlow.
Lange repeatedly cooled himself with water and, well before the finish, began to realize what he had achieved in this race, for himself and for his mother. Already at kilometer five I passed a bay, “that might sound stupid – my mother was there. I got goosebumps all over my body. Then she didn’t leave.”
