Highlights:
2018 IRONMAN World Champion
2017 IRONMAN World Champion
2017 1st place Ironman 70.3 Rügen
2016 3rd place IRONMAN World Championship
2016 1st place Ironman Texas
Patrick has always been enthusiastic about sports. As a child, he remembers his father meeting people to train for a marathon and he always wanted to join him. He regularly trained with the group and his father. He learned to value and love the sport and it became an essential part of his life, relaxing and free of stress.
His enthusiasm for running led him to the track and field club TV Friedrichstein. In addition to specific training sessions for long-distance running, the club also provided opportunities to ride mountain bikes. He was 14 when I won the German MTB U15 Championship. The first real indication that he felt at home on long-distance courses came at the turn of the century when he rode his first 120 km marathon at the age of 16.
After competing in junior competitions, he transferred to the National League club TuS Griesheim in 2006. Patrick reached the top of the German short-distance competition and won five German Championship titles.
In October 2012, he began a special training program for longer distances focusing on his long-term goal: The IRONMAN Hawaii. Along with his studies to become a physiotherapist, he continued training at a professional level. Soon he had to realize that physical performance data is not the only thing that counts in a long distance triathlon race.
He switched coaches, in the winter of 2014 to Manuel Wyss and one year later to 2005 IRONMAN World Champion Faris Al-Sultan. He started building a team of coaches, physiotherapists, consultants and advisors around himself.
In 2016, he put all his eggs into one basket. The continued positive changes and the training with Faris soon showed results. He became more and more professional and finally made the long-awaited step from mid to long-distance competitions.
Long-Distance Debut 2016
At IRONMAN Texas 2016, he won the race in his first competitive long-distance start. It was an unforgettable day and a result that led him to being ranked among the world’s best overnight. He had found his strength: long-distance triathlons and in particular, the marathon.
Winning the North American Championship allowed him to qualify for the most important race of the year. He had achieved his first goal of participating in the World Championship on Hawaii. As he crossed the line in third place in October 2016, having set a new record for the marathon, he could hardly believe what just happened.
He started his preparations for 2017 with the dream of winning this legendary race someday.
A long-term injury at the start of the year interfered badly with his training, but also caused him to grow a lot, particularly mentally. This learning process enabled him to stand at the start line on October with an unbreakable will. He knew how to play the role of the hunter and knew his main strength lay in the running stage of the event. He remained focused on the here-and-now and fought his way through the heat. At times, his thoughts turned to giving up, but he battled against them and stayed strong. So strong that he was able to achieve his dream of winning the most important triathlon in the world and set a new course record while doing so.
In 2018 Patrick was able to reach his best performance in Kona again and defended his title. In the course of his victory he smashed his own course record and became the first athlete finishing Kona sub 8h. The new record stands at 7:52:39.
A triathlon is not just swimming, riding a bike and running. Triathlon is an endurance sport that takes the athletes to their limits every day, both physically and mentally. The main thing is to continue learning, trust in your strengths and above all, to never give up! You have to fight!
