Thomas Hellriegel
Thomas Hellriegel | |
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Personal information | |
Date of birth | 14th January 1971 (age 49) |
place of birth | Büchenau , Germany |
Nickname | Hell on Wheels |
size | 178 cm |
Weight | 70 kg |
societies | |
Since 1991 | TV boards |
Until 2003 | PV triathlon Witten |
Since 2003 | Triathlon team TG Witten |
Current | TV Thalmässing |
successes | |
1995-2003 | 6 × Ironman winner |
1997 | Winner Ironman World Championship |
1992 | Military world champion triathlon |
1992 | German Champion Triathlon (Olympic Distance) |
2007, 2008 | German Champion Triathlon (long distance) |
1993 | Vice European champion |
status | |
inactive |
Thomas Hellriegel (born January 14, 1971 in Büchenau ) is a former triathlete . He is a six-time Ironman winner, the first German winner of the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii (1997), German triathlon champion and military world champion and is included in the best list of German triathletes on the Ironman distance .
Career
As a child and adolescent, Thomas Hellriegel was initially active as a handball player for over ten years and made it up to the Baden youth selection player. As a teenager, he also joined a swimming club. At the age of nineteen, he first started at Ironman Europe in Roth during his training as a physics laboratory assistant . As a regular soldier Thomas Hellriegel belonged from 1992 to 1996 - at times together with Ralf Eggert and Normann Stadler - the sports promotion group of the Bundeswehr in Warendorf. In 1992 he won both the German championships on the Olympic distance at the Cologne Triathlon as well as the first military world championships in Sassenberg , at the world championship in Huntsville in 1992 he was sixth. In 1993 in Echternach Hellriegel was vice-European champion behind the Briton Simon Lessing .
After a triumph in his first middle distance in 1994 at the Allgäu Triathlon in Immenstadt and a renewed trip to the long distance as fifth at the ITU World Championship at the Triathlon International de Nice , the Ironman followed in May 1995 in the lava fields of the Canary Island of Lanzarote - the then 24th year old Hellriegel as the youngest athlete to date - ahead of last year's winner Dutchman Frank Heldoorn, who was seventh at the Ironman Hawaii the year before.
After the hoped-for nomination by the DTU for the European championship did not take place, Hellriegel decided at short notice to start six weeks later at Ironman Europe in Roth, Franconia, against international stars of the scene at the time such as Péter Kropkó , Greg Welch , the American Ray Browning and Stefan Holzner , winner of the Ironman New Zealand three months earlier . The hitherto largely unknown Hellriegel showed the trade press present his preference for hot weather at 33 ° C when he and Jürgen Zäck , known for his parforce rides on the bike - last year with the second fastest time ever achieved in the world for the second time Winner in Roth - kept up on the 180 km and switched to the running track just one minute behind the Koblenzer.
On the podium were Jürgen Zäck, Thomas Hellriegel and Lothar Leder - the "Big-Three" that dominated the German triathlon scene for around a decade. In October, Thomas Hellriegels made his debut at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, where he set a new course record of 4:29:37 h on the bike course and was the first to go on the running course with a 13-minute lead over triathlon legend Mark Allen . It was only five kilometers before the finish line that Mark Allen Hellriegel was able to move into second place - the best placement for a German at the Ironman Hawaii to date. Hellriegel was then voted Triathlete of the Year in Germany.
In 1996 Hellriegel started - after his victory at Ironman Canada two months earlier and Mark Allen's resignation - as the top favorite at Ironman Hawaii and undercut his bike record from the previous year in 4:24:50 h and set a new personal best, which was then nine Years of existence and earned him the nickname "Hell on wheels" (Hell on Wheels). This time another athlete kept up the pace - but the Belgian Luc Van Lierde had to serve a three-minute time penalty in the transition area. Hellriegel even increased his lead to 4:40 minutes, but Van Lierde came up again and ultimately overtook Hellriegel at the same point as last year, Mark Allen.
Winner Ironman Hawaii 1997
In July 1997, Thomas Hellriegel cracked the 8-hour mark at Ironman Europe in Roth in 7:57:50 hours - which was only undercut by a person through Lothar Leder for the first time last year. Hellrieel's time that year was not even enough for the podium: Luc Van Lierde, Jürgen Zäck and Lothar Leder had crossed the finish line before him.
Three months later at Ironman Hawaii, Thomas Hellriegel - in the absence of Luc Van Lierde - only started second this time, three minutes behind, but was able to catch up with Jürgen Zäck after twelve kilometers. Three kilometers further he not only managed to pull away, this time he was able to defend his lead to the finish. Third behind Zäck was Lothar Leder, a total of nine of the first 22 men came from Germany on that day.
Hellriegel received US $ 35,000 in prize money for the first triumph of a German triathlete at the Ironman World Championship. A week later, Hellriegel and Zäck were studio guests in the current sports studio .
Thomas Hellriegel is one of the most successful German triathletes in the long distance. He was the best German participant in Ironman Hawaii six times, and eight times he made it into the top ten. With four podium placements at the “Flower Ceremony”, he was for many years the most successful German at Ironman Hawaii. It was not until 2015 that Andreas Raelert pushed him to second place in this regard. Since Thomas Hellriegel was entitled to a lifelong starting right as the Hawaii winner, he started every year at the Ironman Hawaii from 1995, but rose from 2004 (except for 2005 and 2010) after the second change. Since the qualification criteria were changed in 2011 and former Hawaii winners still have to take part in another Ironman per year for validation, he has not started, but was often there as a spectator.
Thomas Hellriegel has shown great consistency in his competitions over many years, so his victory in Hawaii was followed by victories in his Ironman races in Lanzarote (2003), Lake Placid (1999) and New Zealand (2000). It wasn't until seven years after his victory at the Ironman Hawaii that a German was able to triumph again ( Normann Stadler , 2004). He was able to set new course records on many of the cycle routes that Hellriegel rode as part of his races.
For the PV-Triathlon Witten , from 2003 for the Triathlon Team TG Witten , Thomas Hellriegel started in the Triathlon Bundesliga .
In November 2000 the founding of a professional team under the name "Corpus Hilpoltstein" was announced, which also included Stefan Holzner , Faris Al-Sultan and Markus Forster . The team was supported by five sponsors, including Opel , Jürgen Sesser, Heidi Jesberger's partner and later husband, acted as manager and Wolfgang Dittrich as the sporting director . In November 2002 Hellriegel was presented at a press conference as a participant in the Challenge Roth 2003 together with Holzner and Forster. At the end of 2002 the news appeared that the Corpus team had been dissolved and that Hellriegel would start together with Holzner and Forster at the Ironman in Frankfurt. Shortly beforehand, Opel had signed a three-year contract with Xdream as the organizer to become the title sponsor of Ironman Germany for 750,000 euros a year. A few months later the founding of the “Opel Triathlon Team” with Thomas Hellriegel, Markus Forster, Stefan Holzner and Katja Schumacher was announced. When Opel ended its commitment, the team was dissolved again in 2005.
Hellriegel had to cancel a planned start at Challenge Roth in July 2015 for health reasons. He trains the German triathlete Anja Ippach and lives in Büchenau near Karlsruhe.
Thomas Hellriegel started as a team with Faris Al-Sultan on the Tour Transalp in June 2018 .
Stefan Hellriegel, Thomas Hellriegel's younger brother, is also an enthusiastic triathlete and, together with Björn Steinmetz, was the organizer of the Kraichgau Triathlon Festival and Challenge Kraichgau .
Awards
- In the 1997 VDS athlete of the year vote , around 3,000 sports journalists voted Thomas Hellriegel in third place.
- For his sporting successes, Thomas Hellriegel was honored together with Anja Dittmer and Rainer Müller-Hörner in Berlin in March 2003 with the Silver Laurel Leaf of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Sporting successes
Date / year | rank | competition | venue | time | comment |
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8 Sep 2013 | 13 | Ironman 70.3 Luxembourg | Remich | 04:08:44 | |
26 Aug 2012 | DNF | Trans Vorarlberg Triathlon | Bregenz | - | finished the race after the cycling competition |
Aug 5, 2012 | 1 | TriStar111 Estonia | Otepää | 03:13:12 | |
July 15, 2012 | 1 | TriStar111 Kufstein | Kufstein | 03:28:41 | Victory at the premiere of the TriStar Kufstein |
June 10, 2012 | 16 | ETU Middle Distance Triathlon European Championships | Kraichgau | 04:12:52 | European Championship on the half distance as part of the Challenge Kraichgau |
Aug 14, 2011 | 10 | Ironman 70.3 Germany | Wiesbaden | 04:25:51 | Ironman European Championship |
Aug 7, 2011 | 1 | TriStar111 Estonia | Tallinn | 03:12:53 | |
May 22, 2011 | 16 | Ironman 70.3 Austria | St. Polten | 04: 09: 35.4 | |
June 13, 2010 | 5 | Bonn triathlon | Bonn | 02:54:03 | 3.8 km swimming down the Rhine, 60 km cycling and 15 km running |
June 6, 2010 | 10 | Challenge Kraichgau | Kraichgau | Start with foot problems | |
June 14, 2009 | 8th | Challenge Kraichgau | Kraichgau | 04:08:44 | on the middle distance |
4th July 2008 | 1 | Linz triathlon | Linz | 03:59:45 | Victory ahead of Austrian Werner Leitner on half the Ironman distance |
July 10, 2007 | 2 | Kraichgau Triathlon Festival | Kraichgau | Second on the middle distance | |
Aug 19, 2007 | 7th | Ironman 70.3 Germany | Wiesbaden | ||
June 11, 2006 | 3 | Kraichgau Triathlon Festival | Kraichgau | ||
2004 | 8th | Bush hut triathlon | Bush huts | ||
2004 | 2 | Kohler Haardman | Oer-Erkenschwick | 03:43:20 | Second in the middle distance (2 km swimming, 81.2 km cycling and 20 km running) behind Timo Bracht |
Aug 9, 2003 | 4th | German triathlon championship | Kulmbach | German triathlon championship on the middle distance | |
July 26, 2003 | 14th | Alpine triathlon | Schliersee | 02:06:35 | behind the winner Hektor Llanos (1.5 km swimming, 40 km cycling and 10 km running) |
June 22, 2003 | 3 | Bonn triathlon | Bonn | Over the middle distance (3.8 km swimming, 60 km cycling and 15 km running) | |
June 16, 2002 | 2 | Bonn triathlon | Bonn | ||
May 6, 2001 | 13 | Bush hut triathlon | Bush huts | ||
Aug 6, 2000 | 1 | Steel Town Man | Linz | 03:57:40 | 1.2 km swimming, 90 km cycling and 21 km running; Victory with over 13 minutes ahead of the second ( Wolfgang Dittrich ) |
July 29, 2000 | 1 | Müritz triathlon | Goods (Müritz) | ||
July 26, 1998 | 2 | Allgäu triathlon | Immenstadt | ||
1996 | 1 | Bush hut triathlon | Bush huts | ||
Aug 26, 1995 | 1 | Trans Vorarlberg Triathlon | Bregenz | 05:40:01 | |
Aug 5, 1995 | 2 | Alpine triathlon | Schliersee | 02:05:10 | |
1994 | 4th | ETU European Triathlon Middle Distance Championships | Nowe Mesto | ||
17th July 1994 | 2 | DTU German Championship Triathlon Short Distance | Witten | 01:56:07 | German runner-up on the short distance behind Ralf Eggert , ahead of Roland Knoll |
1994 | 1 | Allgäu triathlon | Immenstadt | ||
Aug 7, 1993 | 3 | DTU German Championship Triathlon Short Distance | amounts | 02:01:45 | Third in the German championship on the short distance triathlon - behind Ralf Eggert and Rainer Müller |
4th July 1993 | 2 | ETU European Triathlon Short Distance Championships | Echternach | 01:54:27 | behind Simon Lessing , in front of Rainer Müller-Hörner |
Aug 16, 1992 | 1 | German triathlon championship | Cologne | 01:49:57 | German triathlon championship on the short distance in front of Rainer Müller-Hörner |
5th July 1992 | 2 | ETU European Triathlon Middle Distance Championships | Joroinen | 03:39:17 | Vice European champion in the middle distance (2.5 km swimming, 80 km cycling and 20 km running) |
June 23, 1991 | 16 | Supersprint series | Roth | 01:58:13 | on the Olympic distance (1.5 km swimming, 40 km cycling and 10 km running) |
Date / year | rank | competition | venue | time | comment |
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Oct 9, 2010 | 152 | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | 09:28:28 | |
Oct 10, 2009 | DNF | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | - | |
Oct 11, 2008 | DNF | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | - | |
July 13, 2008 | 6th | Challenge Roth | Roth | 08:25:19 | German long distance champion |
Oct 13, 2007 | DNF | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | - | |
June 24, 2007 | 4th | Challenge Roth | Roth | 08:10:33 | German long distance champion |
Oct 21, 2006 | DNF | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | - | |
May 20, 2006 | 8th | Ironman Lanzarote | Playa del Carmen | 09:15:21 | |
Oct 15, 2005 | 35 | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | 08:56:55 | |
Oct 16, 2004 | DNF | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | - | |
July 11, 2004 | 7th | Ironman Germany | Frankfurt | 08:35:52 | behind the winner Stefan Holzner |
July 13, 2003 | 5 | Ironman Germany | Frankfurt | 08:22:32 | behind the winner Stefan Holzner |
Oct 18, 2003 | 11 | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | 08:37:46 | |
May 17, 2003 | 1 | Ironman Lanzarote | Playa del Carmen | 08:56:44 | |
Oct 19, 2002 | 4th | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | 08:36:59 | |
July 14, 2002 | 3 | Challenge Roth | Roth | 08:21:53 | |
Apr 7, 2002 | 4th | Ironman Australia | Ranger | 08:36:22 | |
Oct 6, 2001 | 3 | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | 08:47:40 | |
July 8, 2001 | 5 | Ironman Europe | Roth | 08:31:48 | |
Oct 14, 2000 | 5 | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | 08:33:34 | |
July 9, 2000 | 2 | Ironman Europe | Roth | 08:21:30 | |
4th Mar 2000 | 1 | Ironman New Zealand | Taupo | 08:22:46 | Victory ahead of Cameron Brown from New Zealand |
Oct 23, 1999 | 6th | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | 08:28:49 | |
Aug 15, 1999 | 1 | Ironman USA | Lake Placid | 08:36:59 | |
June 27, 1999 | 2 | Ironman Europe | Roth | 07:57:50 | |
Oct 3, 1998 | 8th | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | 08:45:21 | |
July 12, 1998 | 6th | Ironman Europe | Roth | 08:28:10 | |
Oct 18, 1997 | 1 | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | 08:33:01 | Triathlon World Championships (first German winner in Hawaii) |
July 13, 1997 | 4th | Ironman Europe | Roth | 07:57:21 | personal best Ironman time |
Apr 13, 1997 | 2 | Ironman Australia | Port Macquarie | 08:13:00 | |
Oct 26, 1996 | 2 | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | 08:06:07 | Second behind Luc Van Lierde |
Aug 24, 1996 | 1 | Ironman Canada | Penticton | 08:09:53 | |
Oct 7, 1995 | 2 | Ironman Hawaii | Kailua-Kona | 08:22:59 | first start in Hawaii, second behind Mark Allen (triathlete) |
Aug 26, 1995 | 1 | Trans Vorarlberg Triathlon | Lochau | 3 km swimming, 130 km cycling and 15 km running | |
July 9, 1995 | 2 | Ironman Europe | Roth | 08:10:09 | behind the winner Jürgen Zäck |
June 6, 1995 | 1 | Ironman Lanzarote | Playa del Carmen | 08:35:37 | Victory in the long distance (3.86 km swimming, 180.2 km cycling and 42.195 km running) |
Aug 25, 1994 | 5 | Triathlon International de Nice | Nice | ITU World Championship Triathlon Long Distance | |
July 15, 1990 | 56 | Ironman Europe | Roth | 09:26:38 |
(DNF - Did Not Finish )
Web links
- Official website of Thomas Hellriegel
- Thomas Hellriegel in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
- Profile for Thomas Hellriegel at the Institute for Applied Training Science , accessed on May 13, 2014
- Profile and results of Thomas Hellriegel in the ITU database at Triathlon.org , accessed on June 18, 2020 (English).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ursula Kaiser: A man possessed in search of the performance limit .
- ↑ Athlete of the Year 1997. (PDF) Retrieved July 11, 2019 .
- ↑ 2nd International Triathlon Military Championships 1994 Belgium on YouTube
- ↑ Mark Allen once again is Ironman ( English ) In: Seattle Times . October 9, 1995.
- ^ Christian Witt: Hell Hawaii . In: Focus . November 4, 1996.
- ↑ Eisenmann Hellriegel was 119 seconds missing . In: Rhein-Zeitung . October 29, 1996.
- ↑ Berliner Kurier : Eisenmann Hellriegel intercepted again shortly before the goal . October 28, 1996.
- ↑ Fastest Ironman in the world . In: Rhein-Zeitung . July 14, 1997.
- ↑ Hellriegel wins "Ironman" . In: Rhein-Zeitung . October 19, 1997.
- ↑ Frank Ketterer: Hellriegel: went through hell three times . In: The world . October 20, 1997.
- ↑ Frank Ketterer: Performance show of the iron men . In: Berliner Zeitung . October 20, 1997.
- ↑ Triumph of the three muscled animals . In: Hamburger Abendblatt . October 20, 1997.
- ↑ Rob Perry: Press Release: Hellriegel & Fuhr swim, bike & run to 1997 Ironman World Championships ( English ) World Triathlon Corporation. October 18, 1997. Archived from the original on February 21, 1999.
- ↑ Michael Eder: Triathlete Hellriegel - after all those tough years . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . September 21, 2011.
- ↑ Jens Richter: Association issue clarified: Hellriegel, Forster, Al-Sultan in Witten . In: tri2b.com . February 13, 2003.
- ↑ Dirk Kant Lehner: Corpus Hilpoltstein . In: 3athlon.de . November 2000. Archived from the original on January 27, 2001.
- ↑ Press release: Six Opel Zafira for triathlon team . Opel . December 3, 2001.
- ↑ Thomas Scharrer: It is very Christmas in Roth . In: Nürnberger Zeitung . November 29, 2002.
- ↑ Quartet goes . In: Nürnberger Nachrichten . January 2, 2003.
- ↑ Jens Richter: Corpus team apparently before dissolution . In: tri2b.com . December 28, 2002.
- ↑ Press release: The Opel Triathlon Team starts off . Opel . June 16, 2003.
- ↑ Opel saves on sponsorship . In: Rheinische Post . November 2, 2004.
- ↑ Triathlon tips from Ironman Thomas Hellriegel (July 30, 2018)
- ↑ Ex-triathletes at the Everyman's Race - Ironman World Champions Al-Sultan and Hellriegel start at TOUR Transalp 2018 (June 6, 2018)
- ↑ All results of the "Sportsman of the Year" election . In: Rhein-Zeitung . December 7, 1997.
- ↑ Awarded a silver bay leaf . In: Handelsblatt . March 31, 2003.
- ↑ Next victory: Hellriegel also wins in Estonia (August 6, 2012)
- ↑ Thomas Hellriegel and Lisa Hütthaler win the premiere of the TriStar Kufstein . July 15, 2012. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013.
- ↑ TRISTAR111: THOMAS HELLRIEGEL VICTORS IN ESTONIA .
- ↑ IRONMAN 70.3 St. Pölten: The anniversary edition is in the starting blocks
- ↑ Results middle triathlon
- ^ Challenge Kraichgau: Triumphant victory for Sebastian Kienle
- ↑ Kohler Haardman 2004: Bracht and strength to win by a large margin
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Hellriegel, Thomas |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German triathlete |
DATE OF BIRTH | January 14, 1971 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Büchenau |