Jan Frodeno says Achilles is fine and Kona remains the 2022 goal

Jan Frodeno issued a more upbeat message 24 hours on from his DNF at Challenge Roth, saying his Achilles tendon is fine.

The German superstar missed the IRONMAN World Championship at St George in May because of the small partial tear of the tendon.

He admitted before Sunday’s eagerly-awaited return to race action in Bavaria that he did not have enough run kilometres banked, and would be very realistic in his approach.

The 40-year-old looked good in the swim and on the bike, before pulling out when leading 3km into the run as Dane Magnus Ditlev went on to claim a fine victory.

Frodeno Achilles update

On Monday Frodeno had the tendon checked out, and it appears there is no cause for massive concern. It is just clear he is not ready yet for the massive load a marathon places on it.

Speaking in an Instagram video, he said: “This morning I drove to see my orthapaedic surgeon Casper. The tendon is fine, it’s in good shape, it’s not ready for a marathon or any crazy kind of workload but we’ve made a plan as to how we can get fit in the next three, four, five weeks to get back to 100 percent running load and then make full use of what seems to be good form.”

Kona remains the big target

Frodeno admitted that being forced to pull out was frustrating, but said it was not at all unexpected. Being sensible, with that return to Kona in October the big 2022 goal, was always the plan.

“Turns out I had pretty good arms and legs, swim and bike obviously went really, really well, and then having to pull out on the run was tough,” he said.

“It was expected but it was still one of those things when reality hits and you’ve got a good day, you’re in the mix for a fantastic race that Magnus put together and just being there for parts of it was obviously pretty special.

“But in the long term we decided that this is the best plan for the big goal of going to Kona and Hawaii.”

With full crowds now back at triathlon events after the restrictions imposed by the COVID pandemic, Frodeno hailed the incredible support he had both during and after Sunday’s race.

“A crazy day at Challenge Roth. It was amazing to see so many people out there, the atmosphere was absolutely overwhelming.

“Massive thank you to everybody who was out on the course and all the very many supportive messages. I’m alright, upwards and onwards.”