Jan Frodeno vs Lionel Sanders in the Zwift Tri Battle Royale was a fascinating showdown between two triathlon superstars – and it resulted in a new iron-distance record time of 7:27:53 from Frodeno. You can replay the video stream of the event, and also click here for full results and a report on how Frodeno broke the record.
Replay the video stream of the action via YouTube, directly beneath this text.
Why Frodeno vs Sanders?
Lionel Sanders believes he has yet to beat Jan Frodeno. He did once finish in front of the German GOAT, but that was when an injured Frodeno limped home down the field at Kona in 2017.
That apart Frodeno has dominated their rivalry, leaving Sanders to claim he would be “carried out on a stretcher’ rather than quit trying to get that elusive victory.
Recently the pair started a back on forth on social media, which resulted in a challenge being thrown down for the Zwift Tri Battle Royale. A head-to-head battle over the full iron distance in Allgäu, Germany.
The event takes place on a specially designed course in the southern German region, and the event starts at 0900 local time on Sunday July 18 (0800 BST, 0300 Eastern).
A record iron distance time?
Both men talked openly at Friday’s press conference of the desire to break the current record on Sunday.
That mark – 7:35:39 – was set by Frodeno himself at Challenge Roth five years ago. Sanders says he believes Frodeno will go under 7:30 on Sunday, so he’ll have to do the same to beat him.
If you’re monitoring the splits to see how the pace compares with that Roth romp from Frodeno five years ago – here they are:
- Swim: 45:22
- Bike: 4:08:07
- Run: 2:39:18
Frodeno vs Sanders analysis
Our expert John Levison went in depth on the huge showdown, and you can read his full pre-race analysis here.
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