John Frodeno talks about his horrific crash at Ironman EM

Horrific crash at the Ironman European Championships in Hamburg Even John Frodeno was shocked. The three-time world champion from Germany witnessed the death of a motorbike pilot on Sunday when a motorcycle and an amateur triathlete collided head-on on the bike course. “Everything else is secondary, tertiary or fifth. My heartfelt condolences to the survivors,” said the German triathlon superstar.

Frodeno learned the extent of the accident only after finishing fourth. “It was very confusing. I heard the motorcyclist was dead. I was right next to it and saw the bike broken into a thousand pieces,” Frodeno said. “I turned around and saw the motorcyclist on the ground, and it couldn’t have been good.”

“Our thoughts and concerns are with the family.”

The crash occurred 2:25 hours after takeoff on a straight parallel to a dyke in Hamburg’s Ochenwerder district. A live stream on Ironman.com showed the motorcyclist with a photographer on his machine overtaking other motorcyclists and crashing into the athlete.

The organizers only released a statement hours after the tragedy. “It is with great sadness that we confirm the death of a motorcyclist due to a serious medical event,” Tampa, Florida-based World Triathlon Corporation said in a statement.

WTC owns the Ironman brand. She markets them worldwide. Ironman Germany’s boss Oliver Scheig was tight-lipped and referred to the WTC news. Ironman continues to work with local authorities to resolve the situation, the statement continued. “The health and well-being of everyone involved in the event is paramount and we will continue to work with everyone involved to organize the safest possible event.”

The background to the conflict is unclear

In this accident, a 70-year-old man who was traveling on a motorcycle died on the spot and the sportsman (26) was seriously injured, police said. The cameraman (50) on the motorcycle was traumatized and taken to the hospital, as was the tri-serviceman.

“The background to the collision – whether it was medically necessary for the motorcyclist is purely speculative,” the operations manager had previously told the ARD “Sports Show”. “It’s almost impossible to explain if there’s any evasive behavior because it’s a straight stretch. A really spectacular track for this area.”

“It’s a complete farce”

Frodeno does not want to criticize directly. “It may be the wrong time to express criticism,” he said — just to clarify. “From a purely sporting point of view, it wasn’t fair because the motorcycles were so close,” Frodeno said. ‘It’s a complete farce. Then with oncoming traffic. It was incredibly tight, “no motorcycles allowed,” he said. “I know it always has to be with the media, but the safety of athletes has to go forward somehow.”

After the accident site was cordoned off, there was a ridiculous scene where the tri-servicemen had to carry their bikes over the dyke. Despite the incident, the match was not abandoned. The decision was made by the World Triathlon Association in the United States. In the end, Frenchman Denis Chevrod secured victory and defended his title from Belgium’s Peter Hermerick and Denmark’s Christian Hogenhoek.

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