Jan Frodeno: “It hurts more to be on the sidelines than to lose”

“I normally agree with Kristian that it hurts more to lose, but honestly it hurts more to be on the sidelines watching it,” the returning Jan Frodeno exclaimed after a fourth-place finish in the PTO European Open in Ibiza.

The three-time Kona champion, who was forced to miss last year’s showdown in Hawaii through injury, was contesting rival Kristian Blummenfelt’s race-day mantra that there can be worse things than defeat.

Three Olympic champions on the startline

Blummenfelt might still disagree after both had a taste of it over the 100km distance in Ibiza where the much-billed showdown between the Olympic champions from Beijing 2008 to Tokyo 2020 (including Alistair Brownlee) ended with low-profile Australian Max Neumann taking the tape.

While Blummenfelt was “f**king annoyed” at not having made up the ground to overtake Neumann on the run, the 41-year-old Frodeno was more circumspect in his analysis.

“I’ve been injury and pain-free for just five weeks,” he said. “For over a year I’ve had someone take between 30-60ml of liquid out of my knee every two weeks.

“That doesn’t allow you to do any strength work on the bike, any climbing, any intensity. I’m not looking for excuses, I just know there is a margin there.”

Against that backdrop, Frodeno, who hasn’t completed a competitive race since posting the fastest time in the PTO Collins Cup in 2021 – also over the 100km distance – shouldn’t be overly self-critical.

He only missed out on the podium by 26secs to Magnus Ditlev, the Dane – 16 years his junior – who won Challenge Roth last year when Frodeno pulled the plug on the marathon.

What happened to Frodeno in Ibiza?

“But man it was tough,” the German said at the finish in the old town on the south side of the island. “I could really see I needed to blow the cobwebs out, especially at this kind of distance and intensity.

“I can feel I’ve got the legs to go the distance, but I needed to go well beyond threshold a few times on the bike and I was suffering.

“I just had to make the decision to try and salvage the day. But if you’re running 3:20s [per kilometre] off the bike then you don’t deserve to win.”

There were upsides. As well as completing the race healthy, Frodeno was second out of the water behind Aaron Royle and looked in control throughout the 2km swim.

A messy transition, trying to mount his bike on a tricky incline leaving T1, would have earned empathy from plenty of age-group triathletes who have experienced similar difficulties, but the 80km bike leg then proved a tough re-education to the sharp end of racing.

“Straight away I was pushing north of 400 watts on a climb and was not comfortable,” he said. “I wanted to help the boys and be aggressive but couldn’t even do it on the downhill. I will have to look at the numbers, but it definitely wasn’t my day on the bike.”

As Ditlev and Blummenfelt first closed the gap to the front and then Brownlee, Kyle Smith, Neumann and Ditlev broke away, the German was powerless to halt the charge.

On to the run, it represented a throwback to the days racing short course series events until Frodeno’s switch to non-drafting in 2014 – including an ambitious Brownlee breaking away at the front.

“It took me back to ITU days, with all the turnarounds and leaning in and little sprints,” Frodeno added. And as for Alistair’s performance? [Brownlee eventually faded to finish sixth].

“I was happy for him. He goes out and is exciting to watch, but I was like: ‘Ah, dude, you do this every time!’ For somebody who’s so smart, he needs to understand it’s just a bit longer than 5km!”

What’s next for Frodeno?

Next up is Ironman Hamburg in the European Championship, a super fast course, with an extra bit of incentive to do well – a chance for instant revenge.

“I just heard that Max Neumann is racing so that will be super exciting. I’m going to go back home, get ready and keep training.

“I had a little chat to my surgeon yesterday and we quietly celebrated ourselves for getting here. I’m loving it and just happy to be back.”

Top image credit: Darren Wheeler/PTO