I was procrastinating today and looking through the past results from IMC. I was there watching the race in 1996 when Hellriegel desimated the field. I would even call him a strong runner in that race (in addition to his amazing bike split).
Question: will we ever see a performance like this again at IMC? 8’09’. Incredible! I wish he was racing at his best again so that the races would become more interesting. His run splits were also fast. Can you imagine how nervous the top guys would be if Hellriegel took off solo on the bike like Stadler knowing that he can run a sub 2’50’ marathon leg?
In his “day” at Hawaii, Hellriegel ran 2:46 after a sub 4:25 bike…except in “his day” Van Lierde was running 2:42 off sub 4:30 ! Check out Hawaii 1996 !
IMO Hellriegal is up there with the greats in the sport!! As stated before, he had the unfortune to have had raced Mark Allen in his first atempt (who by the way had some help from a tv van that race) and Luc the Fluke on his second attempt. AND, before Peter Reid came out of his “slump” Hellriegal was the most consistent IMH champion since his win in '97, always finishing the race, and within the top 15.
Back luck for Hellriegel that two of his great performances were in races where Mark Allen and Van Lierde did well also.
Does anyone know why he is not performing as well as in the mid 90’s? Simply overtraining? If it is overtraining then surely this could be rectified for the neext season??? It’s not like he became too old. I think I read that Peter Reid considers him to be the most under-rated triathlete.
…looks like Hellriegel is the Jan Ullrich of Ironman…in the sense that when he was at the top of his game, there were a couple of guys flying even quicker. Only difference is that Hellriegel does not gain 15 lbs in the off season
I agree. I was standing halfway up Richter, and to see him ride up that in his aerobars, in total control, was awesome. It’s not often that you see people ride technically and tactically correct on that climb. Then the 12 minute wait until the next guy showed up, simply crazy. 12 minutes in that small stretch was mind boggling. But as soon as we saw the way the pursuers rode up that climb, it was pretty obvious why the gap was so big.
I read a little while ago that Peter Reid considered TH as one of the fastest ever, and would probably win more if he would just cut back on his training and the # of races he does.
I really think that him and LVL were awesome in their day…and can probably still make it to the podium under the right circumstances.
But for 05/06 IMH, my money is still on Reid,Norman and Cam Brown.
These guys are so consistent, strong,and by now are tactically mature and savvy.
I’d like to see Cam Brown take it all.
He’s class all the way.
