Two-time U.S. Olympian Sarah True collapsed while leading in the last 100-degree mile of the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt, Germany, on Sunday.
True, who said she had a seven-minute lead, was carried off the course by four people after nine hours of racing.
She later said she could not remember the last two miles of the 140.6-mile competition (2.4-mile swim followed by a 112-mile bike and a marathon) and that the temperature was 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit).
These are broken down into 80 slots for championship races like in Frankfurt, South Africa, and Texas. Normally it's 40 for other races. Sometimes newer races will come in at a lower number. There's one or two next year which have 25-30 slots. Ironman Philippines and two Chinese 70.3 races are examples.
- With just one Kona slot allocated to the professional women at this year's Asia Pacific Championships, Amelia Watkinson has now accepted her Kona slot for October 2021. In recent years this race had awarded six slots across the men's and women's fields, usually split 50:50 split between the genders.
- 2021 Mainova IRONMAN European Championship Frankfurt offers 75 slots for the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i. Be prepared to pay 1050 USD plus Hawai`i GE Tax & processing fee (Active fee) with credit card ONLY. We will NOT accept cash or check as a valid form of payment.
'Sad, frustrated, a million different things,' True told Triathlonworld.com. 'You never expect to be in the position where you have a seven-minute gap, and your brain doesn't function well enough to tell you you're struggling in the heat. Just stop and walk a little because I still would have won. When your brain goes in the heat, there's not a lot you can do.'
True, 37, finished fourth at the 2012 Olympics, then switched to Ironman after being lapped at the Rio Games. She was fourth in her Kona Ironman World Championships debut last Oct. 13.
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Two-time U.S. Olympian Sarah True carried off the Ironman European Championship course in about 100-degree heat in Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday after 9 hours of racing. Turning stone resort casino jobs. She was leading by 7 minutes with a kilometer to go in the marathon, after a 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bike. pic.twitter.com/Tc0iNEzylf
— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) July 1, 2019
A post shared by Sarah (Groff) True (@sarah.b.true) on
Ironman has announced 'adjustments to the slot allocations for the 2020 Ironman World Championship based on qualifying events that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.'
Yesterday we were wondering what Ironman's options might be based on all the race postponements due to the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic – today we got a bit of an answer.
Ironman has extended the qualifying window by a week – from August 23, 2020 to August 30, 2020. That means Ironman Canada will now serve as both a qualifying race for the Ironman World Championship in 2020 and 2021. The race will offer 60 qualifying slots for this year's race in Kona in addition to 40 slots for the 2021 race.
That will be a tight turnaround for athletes who qualify this year – the Ironman World Championship is scheduled for October 10.
Related: The Kona conundrum
Related: The Kona conundrum
Two other races that are scheduled for August 23, Ironman Kazakhstan and Ironman Vichy will also offer 60 spots for the 2020 event in addition to the qualifying slots for the 2021 race. The Ironman site doesn't specify how many 2021 slots the Ironman Vichy race will have. Ironman Kazakhstan is supposed to have 30 slots for Kona in 2021.
Ironman has also allocated additional slots for the Legacy Program (athletes who have done 12 Ironman races but who have not raced in Kona) – 'every eligible waitlisted Legacy athlete' will be allowed to race this year.
Here's the full text of Ironman's announcement:
Kona Slots Ironman Frankfurt 2019
TAMPA, Fla. (April 9, 2020) – IRONMAN today announced adjustments to the slot allocations for the 2020 Vega IRONMAN® World Championship based on qualifying events that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The IRONMAN World Championship qualifying window for the 2020 Vega IRONMAN World Championship has been officially extended from August 23, 2020 to August 30, 2020.
With this change, the 2020 editions of IRONMAN Canada – Penticton (August 30), IRONMAN Kazakhstan (August 23) and IRONMAN Vichy (August 23), will now offer 60 qualification slots each to the 2020 IRONMAN World Championship in addition to the qualification slots they offer for the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship.
IRONMAN races that have been postponed from an earlier date in the 2020 season and are rescheduled to take place on or before August 30, 2020 will remain in the 2020 IRONMAN World Championship qualifying season. Events that have been postponed to take place after August 30, 2020 will move to the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship qualifying season.
Additionally, the Legacy Program has been allocated additional slots for 2020, providing every eligible waitlisted Legacy athlete the ability to race in the 2020 IRONMAN World Championship.
The 2020 Vega IRONMAN World Championship is scheduled to take place in Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i on Saturday, October 10, 2020.
As further changes are made to the slot allocation of events, they will be updated on the individual IRONMAN event pages on www.ironman.com, with the most up-to-date information on overall qualification details being found at www.ironman.com/im-world-championship.
