Horst Reichel missed victory at Ironman 70.3 Budapest by only 35 seconds

Yesterday, Saturday, Horst Reichel proved with his second place finish at Ironman 70.3 Budapest that he is right on track as one of the main contenders for victory at Ironman Copenhagen in three weeks. Under hot conditions in Budapest, he was only beaten by a narrow margin by the Frenchman Bertrand Billand.

After the swimming, Reichel was among the top group and laid thus the foundation for a great performance in the further course of the race.

"On the bike I did not wait long to take the initiative and get to the first place in the race. At 25 k, Bertrand attacked and we let him go. Still, I kept up a constant pace to make the group smaller and not to let Betrand get too far away", the TEAM SPORT FOR GOOD athlete sums up the bike part.

Reichel started the run in second position. 3:35 minutes behind Billand, and quickly found his rhythm. "Right from the first metre I felt really well and was able to reduce the gap on the first ten kilometres to just two minutes. Then I knew that I had a realistic chance of winning. In the end, unfortunately, I missed victory by just 35 seconds. Still, Bertrand was the strongest athlete in the race today and he deserved to win it."

After the race, the athlete from Darmstadt was very satisfied. "I am very pleased with the result and my actual shape. That is why I am quite optimistic for the last training weeks before Ironman Copenhagen. Right now, although, I am looking forward to cool off in an ice barrel, because I really suffered a lot in the heat."