World's fastest to go head-to-head at Ironman European Championships
Marino Vanhoenacker confirms he'll be at the Ironman European Champs in Frankfurt, and will take on Andreas Raelert in a battle of the two fastest Ironmen
By Matt Baird
The Ironman European Championships in Frankfurt on 8 July is set to be a showdown between the two fastest Ironmen of all time: Germany's Andreas Raelert and Belgium's Marino Vanhoenacker.
Vanhoenacker set the Iron distance world record of 7:48:58 at Ironman Austria last year, when he recorded his sixth win at the event. But Raelert broke that record just a week later at Challenge Roth when he posted 7:41:33.
This makes the field for the event extremely strong as, in addition to Raelert and Vanhoenacker, Michael Raelert (twice 70.3 world champion), Ronnie Schildknecht, Faris Al-Sultan, Sebastien Kienle and Markus Fachbach have all confirmed that they will race.
"Marino and Andreas competing against each other is a dream come true for Ironman fans," said Kai Walter, the World Triathlon Corporation's Managing Director of International Operations in Europe. "To have the two fastest athletes in long-distance triathlon in the same race will be ana amazing thing to watch. Plus we have upcoming star Sebastien Kienle in Frankfurt, too. This wil be a race the triathlon world will follow very closely."
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