Patrick Lange rues “lack of focus” as German star just misses podium in last race of the season

Patrick Lange was left kicking himself after a mistake in transition left the 2023 IRONMAN World Championship runner-up on the back foot at IRONMAN Portugal-Cascais, where he eventually finished fourth.

The PTO World #4, who was one of the pre-race favourites and was looking for a first victory this year to round out the season, took an unintended detour through the middle distance transition in Cascais after missing the dismount line for his race.

Despite losing his way, Lange still managed to run a creditable 2:38:07 and just miss out on the podium. Now preparing to take time off, the 37 year old has twelve months before a shot at a third IRONMAN World Championship title in Kona, Hawaii.

“I take full responsibility”

Explaining what happened in an Instagram post after the race, Lange was having a good race up until his mistake and despite admitting to being his own “harshest critic”, there were some positives to take away from the result.

“A hard-earned lesson learned. The race was going well until it wasn’t. Due to a lack of focus, I missed the entry to T2 at the end of the bike course and took a detour through the 70.3 Transition, costing me about 5-6 minutes. An absolute nightmare situation, but as I said, I take full responsibility for the mistake, and I think I’m my harshest critic in that situation.

“Really disappointing, especially as I believe I had positioned myself well with the ride and was ready to give it my all on the run. In the end, I’m proud of not giving up and fighting through even when I thought I might call it a day. My team, especially Julia Lange, kept me in the race, and right now, I’m just grateful to have had her, Carlo and Jens Neubert around to support me.”

Despite the situation, Lange was quick to step back and take stock of his season as a whole, which came to an end in Portugal. Thanking all of his fans and supporters, the German took pride in the fact that overall, he had another great year.

“It was a really tough day, but that won’t overshadow the fact that 2023 was a very good and successful year! Off-season now! Thank you for your support and all the nice and inspiring messages I received today!! That’s what it’s all about.”